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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 






































6 6 


AMORE” 


“AMORE” 



ELIZABETH BOYNTON HARBERT, PH.D. 


Unum Araore, More, Ore, Re.” 


* C OP Y «!<</* 

Noy 2 1892 J 

NEW YORK / ^ f y' f" X 

LOVELL, GESTEFELD & COMPANY 

125 East 23D Street 


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Copyright, 1892, 

BY 

ELIZABETH BOYNTON HARBERT 


All rights reserved 


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Brtbur, Cortnne ait£> ^Sognton, 

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OF LESSER OR OF LARGER GROWTH 
ARE THESE PAGES LOVINGLY 

Defcfcateb. 



AMORE. 


CHAPTER I. 

THE CRADLE OF A HERO. 

O golden dawn ! O promised day, 

When error’s lost in truth’s clear ray! 
When all shall know that “ God is Love,” 
His kingdom here, around, above, 

The world one equal brotherhood, 

And evil overcome with good. 

O doubting hearts ! O tempted ones ! 

The shadows fade, the sunshine comes. 
Freedom for each is best for all, 

The golden rule our bugle call ; 

While as to victory on we move, 

The banner over us, is Love. 

And every race and sect and clime, 

Shall equal share in this glad time. 

E. B. H. 


Philip, the king of the Ward household, and 
the hero of our story, gains the unusual, and it 
may be considered by some, the unenviable, distinc- 
tion of being introduced while yet in the nursery ; 


G 


AMORE. 


but since “ the child is father to the man,” we thus 
introduce two characters at once ; a manifest econ- 
omy of the reader’s as well as of the printer’s time. 

A second reason for so early an introduction is 
found in the fact, that this “ nursery,” with other of 
the home environments, had so much influence upon 
the habit of thought, and consequent symmetry of 
character, of our hero, that we wish to emphasize 
and describe it. 

In the first place, Philip Ward was born in a true 
home, where there were “ two heads in council, two 
beside the hearth,” and not one head to domi- 
nate, and one little, lonely young mother left alone 
night after night beside the hearth, there to wrestle 
with the sudden, and almost overwhelming joys, 
cares, and responsibilities incident to motherhood. 

During the months previous to the arrival of this 
eagerly and lovingly anticipated little stranger, the 
wise mother had dwelt much in the sunshine and 
thought much beneath the stars, and had decorated 
and adorned the nursery walls with pictures radiant 
with hope and love, color and harmony, representa- 
tions of mother-birds happy with their downy 
broods, of butterflies just emerging from the chrys- 
alis and being transformed into angel insects ; a 


AMORE. 


7 


few pictures representative of “ Strength,” “ Vic- 
tory” and “ Love,” but nothing containing so much 
as a hint of despair or defeat, or recognition of any 
power other than that of the “Eternal Goodness .’ y 

In the second place, this father and mother had 
together, in entire unity of plan and purpose, 
built this holiest shrine known to earth, a truly 
harmonious home, a veritable temple of love and 
justice, where the mother was an equal partner ; 
where household service was recognized as a pro- 
fession, and the wifely professor was cheerfully 
accorded her just wage ; hence (and special empha- 
sis is to be placed upon that word “ hence ”) this 
mother found in her home the highest sphere and 
most coveted profession. 

This home-sphere was in no sense a narrow one, 
for the unselfish characteristics which had resulted 
in this true harmony, had caused both the pater- 
nal and maternal heart to go forth in love and ten- 
derness to the homeless, the orphaned and the 
tempted, so that there were outside philanthropies 
as well as fireside pleasures. 

One of the cardinal points of Mrs. Ward’s phil- 
osophy was, that young mothers require fresh air^ 
out-of-door exercise, and daily communion with 


8 


AMORE. 


nature. Hence it sometimes happened that cer- 
tain thoughtless women who would not have rec- 
ognized any cause for embarrassment upon being 
observed taking a pet dog or two out for exercise, 
were greatly surprised to see young Mrs. Ward 
(who everybody knew, was perfectly able to hire 
a nurse) trundling her own baby carriage. We 
are glad that times are improving for dumb 
animals, and we wish to record our recognition 
of the wisdom of mothers who give to their 
children during that important time, the forma- 
tive years of babyhood and childhood, as much 
of their own care, influence and example as pos- 
sible. 

As our hero developed thoughtfulness and waxed 
eloquent with questions, his mother often ex- 
claimed : “ O, that we timid, anxious mothers 
could gain control of our impious fears and our 
own narrow, dwarfing theology, and allow these 
wonderful human flowers to grow naturally, quietly 
and gladly, as do the other blossoms of God ! We 
were very greatly interested in a fragment of con- 
versation upon this subject which we chanced to 
overhear, between Mrs. Ward and a very anxious 
and depressed Sabbath school teacher, who had 


AMORE. 


9 • 

called to inquire why little Philip did not join the 
infant class. 

In reply to the teacher’s question, Mrs. Ward 
said, “ Little children seem to me very much like 
flowers. They need a great deal of' sunlight and 
loving care, but not nearly so much pruning and 
digging about as many persons .believe.” 

“ Other flowers praised for their beauty and 
sweetness, are allowed to dance in the breeze, and 
bathe in the dew, to live their own sweet lives and 
enjoy the pure air, and the life-giving sunshine of 
God, every day in the week, and are never for- 
bidden to be their own sweet selves, even upon 
the Sabbath. It seems to me that if these child- 
flowers are transplanted every seventh day, and 
thoughtlessly told that they are hideously ugly 
(totally wicked), that their beauty of form and of 
motion are mere temptations of the Devil, they 
will cease to develop. The silvery aspens, the 
waving elms and willows, the dancing daffodils 
and climbing roses, are never told that their 
Creator prefers to have them remain stiff and 
motionless, that they have been summoned into a 
very wicked world, where there is a most powerful 
and subtle Being, with whom even their loving 


10 


AMORE. 


Creator is at times almost unable to cope. If they 
were, these horror-stricken little flowers and leaves 
and vines might hide their beautiful up-turned 
faces, and shrivel and fade from very fear and 
heart-break, just as many little human blossoms 
would now, had not the heart of Infinite Love 
implanted deep within each childish mind a loving 
trust, and a disbelief both in its own total de- 
pravity and in any power greater than God.” 

“ If, as 4 Lucy Maria ’ recognized, it requires an 
angel to teach a grammar school properly, what 
should be the qualifications of a teacher of an 
infant class in a Sabbath school ? ” 

44 And, pardon me,” continued Mrs. Ward, 44 it 
has always seemed to me that a group of solemn, 
bookish theologians, would not be more out of 
their true sphere as nurses in an orphan asylum, 
or in dressing dolls for a Christmas tree, than they 
are when preparing a series of Sabbath school 
lessons for an infant class.” 

44 In order to satisfy my own conscience upon 
this matter, I visited a few weeks since the Infant 
Class of a Sabbath school that is nearer our home 
than the one you represent, Miss McNeally, and 


AMOliE. 


11 


this was what I saw on that glorious June 
morning, when, as Mrs Browning says : 

‘ Earth’s crammed with Heaven, 

And every bush afire with God.’ 

There to my horror, in front of the little, loving, 
questioning eyes, eyes which should have been 
filled with gladdening pictures of birds and butter- 
flies, of rainbows and crimson sunsets, was a large 
white chart, upon which glared in fierce red 
letters the subject of the lesson for the day, 
‘ The valley of dry bones ' 99 

“ I recognize that it is rather difficult for even 
the hardy old roses to flourish in some of the Old 
Testament ground, unless strengthened by spirit- 
ual or allegorical elements ; and I believe, oftener 
than we know, it has a blighting and withering 
effect upon daisies and buttercups.” 

***** 

As Phillip Ward developed into boyhood, the 
dislocated clocks, manipulated sewing-machines, 
chemical experiments, improvised telegraph wires, 
etc., etc., seemed to suggest the future scientist, 
and yet occasional rhymes and a true love of music 


12 


AMOBE. 


indicated other tastes, which to the fond mother 
were prophetic of unusual genius, but at which 
others laughed and said, “merely a Jack-at-all- 
trades, good at none.” 

And the years speed on. College is entered, and 
life, life in our own peerless America, is before 
the boy. Life with its brilliant possibilities, its op- 
portunities for heroic action and its need of 
heroes, its constant demand for poets, prophets, 
wise teachers and true leaders. — What will he do 
with it ? 

During the years of boyhood, which have 
brought to him many temptations, and the struggles 
and real trials of school-life incident to every boy, 
he has lived a pure life. His wise parents have 
carefully developed and cultivated his different 
tastes, have supplied him with tools, welcomed the 
friends of his own choosing (although it ofttimes 
required, on the part of Mrs. Ward, heroic indiffer- 
ence to carpets and dust) and have surrounded 
him with an atmosphere of love and trust. 

He has learned life’s most valuable lessons, trust 
in a God of love, trust in humanity, and trust in 
himself. For granted health, spiritual and moral 
development, and scientific and industrial training 


AMORE . 


13 


and. an optimistic belief, and the future, in America, 
holds success for any manly boy. 

Such is our hero at eighteen ; handsome as a 
loving heart, a manly self-respect and a fine physique 
will make any youth, for youth itself is beautiful. 

As we look into the mysterious depths of his 
pure brown eyes, we read the prophecy of a noble 
man ; just such an one (an actual, living man, not 
an impossible ideal) as is met with to-day in some 
of our altruistic homes, where the masculine and 
feminine characteristics and powers have received 
equal recognition and secured harmonious develop- 
ment. 

Had he been less symmetrical he would not have 
been chosen for our hero, as the true hero of our age 
is not the representative of war, or of ambition, or 
of mere intellectual prowess, but the man in whom 
love and wisdom are harmoniously blended ; such 
men as children trust, as girlhood honors, as true 
women love. 

It had required heroic patience and faith upon 
the part of his mother to always abide by the phi- 
losophy of her higher moods, when the boy’s innate 
love of justice and his mania for proving things 
had manifested itself ; as it had necessitated rare 


14 


AMORE. 


unselfishness and the keenest sense of justice in 
the father to allow him freedom of choice in politics 
and religion ; but these wise parents were far more 
anxious to have their son unfold into a knowledge 
of truth than to have him merely echo their own 
thoughts, or yield unquestioning approval to their 
theology or philosophy. These parents recognized 
the sacredness of each individual interpretation 
and manifestation of God, and were content to 
merely emphasize George Eliot’s clarion note, 

“Nay, never falter, 

No great deed is done by falterers who ask for certainty. 
Nothing is certain, but the undivided will to seek the good ; 
’Tis that compels the elements and wrings a human music from 
the indifferent air; 

The greatest gift the hero leaves his race is, to have been a 
hero.” 

* * # * * 

Very different was the home-world, into which, 
upon one bleak November day another boy was not 
so much welcomed as received. This house was 
literally but a stone’s- throw from the home through 
whose windows Philip Ward first looked out upon 
the world, the two places being only separated by 
a fence. We would have written, two fences, but 
the graceful line of trailing roses, honeysuckle 
and acacia that surrounded the Ward estate, seemed 


AMORE. 


15 


to breathe a welcome, inviting within ; but beyond 
this fragrant border was a fence, an unmistakable, 
barbed-wire fence, with which Deacon Heady had 
surrounded his home, for the purpose of protecting 
his apple-trees from the marauding boys, who for, 
to him, some accountable reason, seemed to take 
especial delight in annoying him. 

The poor man not having been taught the wonder- 
ful law of thought-transference, did not recognize 
in these annoyances the boomerang results of his 
own unloving, suspicious and bitter thoughts. 

Deacon Heady was practical, and proud of it. 
A man with no nonsense about him. One, who 
early in life had been thoroughly taught several 
wise proverbs by a severely strict widowed aunt, 
who had never forgotten that “ children should be 
seen and not heard ” ; that “ wives should obey 
their husbands,” and that “ the love of money was 
the root of all evil.” This latter the Deacon had 
changed to mean that the love of money in a 
woman was dreadful, but that the love of land, 
more land, in a man, was indicative of great 
strength of character. 

Mrs. Heady, the conscientious, obedient, and 
altogether suppressed “ companion ” of this barbed- 


16 


AMORE. 


wire species of a man, was a New England house- 
keeper of the severest type ; as far removed in 
lovableness and consequent influence, from the 
true home-maker, as a stiff, red everlasting is from 
a wild rose, or a Lombardy poplar from an elm or 
a larch. 

Her nursery was as devoid of ornament as the 
back yards in most of our western villages are of 
beauty. Stiff, brown shades were the only win- 
dow decorations ; the soft, white curtains which 
had been given to her by an artistic sister, being 
packed away, because they were so much trouble 
to laundry. Here was no dainty bric-a-brac, be- 
cause it was “ so much trouble to dust.” 

Two pictures glared from the white walls, one, 
a horribly realistic representation of the martyr- 
dom of St. Stephen, the other, the beheading of 
John the Baptist, while the one bit of feminine 
indulgence in color was the legend, embroidered 
with the reddest of red and the blackest of black 
worsted, “ In the midst of life we are in death.” 

When the little stranger arrived in this shadowy 
home, the mother was too weak to argue in favor 
of the name of her choice, and so the father made 
haste to indulge his pessimistic taste, and had 


AMORE. 


17 


the boy christened “ Lament,” in recognition of 
his favorite book in the Bible, “ Lamentations.” 

As we from our standpoint of privilege look at 
the sleeping children, we find ourselves wondering 
what the result would have been if Philip Ward 
had been transferred to the little crib of Lament 
Heady, or if the little Lament could have unfolded 
in the love-illumined atmosphere of the Ward 
household? 


2 


18 


A MORE. 


CHAPTER H. 

CASSING- OUT THE DEVIL. 

“ Let me go where’er I will 
I hear a sky-born music still; 

It sounds from all things old, 

It sounds from all things young, 

From all that’s fair, from all that’s foul, 

Peals out a cheerful song. 

It is not only in the rose, 

It is not only in the bird. 

Not only where the rainbow glows , 

Nor in the song of woman heard, 

But in the darkest, meanest things 
There alway, alway something sings. 

’Tis not in the high stars alone, 

Nor in the cups of budding flowers, 

Nor in the redbreast’s mellow tone, 

Nor in the bow that smiles in showers, 

But in the mud and scum of things , 

There alway, alway something sings.” 

Emerson. 

“ Theodora, who in the world are you playing 
with now ? Come into the house this moment. 
I believe that you would smile upon a darkie or a 
Chinaman, just as sweetly as you would upon the 
President. You certainly are one of the strangest 






AMORE. 


19 


children that ever lived ; at least you are a perfect 
enigma to me.” 

“ O, no, auntie dear, I was not playing that I 
was 4 a-nig’s-ma ; we were playing that she was 
the good, old Black Mammy, and that I was the 
beautiful white child that had been carried off by 
the gypsies. O ! we have been having great fun, 
only Fannie Gray don almost spoiled it all. She 
was passing and saw me playing with Juliette, 
and she called out just as loud as she could and 
said : 4 Ain’t you ashamed, Theodora, to be seen 
playing with a little black girl ? I am awful sorry 
that the Republicans have beaten, because I just 
hate the Niggers.’ 

“ And I said, why, Fannie Graydon, I think you 
have forgotten the beautiful verse you have been 
saying as your text in school this week, about 
‘ God is love,’ haven’t you ? 

44 And then she just laughed and said , 4 O, you 
little goothy-poothy (you know she lisps some- 
times) I just choosed that verse because it was 
nithe and short, why — I did most love a little 
black girl that lived near us once, I actually 
kithed her one time, but then that was when my 
father was a Republican.’ 

44 Well, auntie, about that time I wish you could 


20 


AMORE. 


have seen Juliette. She was so angry that I began 
to think she was going to turn white, and so, quick 
as I could, I took off my beads (now you don’t 
care, do you ?) and put them around her neck, and 
we said one verse of 4 Our Father ’ ; you know, the 
one about 4 forgive us our trespasses as we forgive,’ 
etc., etc., and, well — the beads and the prayer and 
the violets and the daffodils and the birds made us 
so happy that Juliette was just dancing a jig for 
me when you called to me. 0, please let me go 
to see her finish it.” 

44 Please do not laugh at her, James. Did you 
ever hear such a mixture ? Politics and religion, 
praying and dancing, all in the same moment. 
She has given to that little colored girl those rare 
beads that the Rev. Mr. Whiting brought to her 
from Jerusalem, yet, as she stood there looking so 
much like an angel, an earth-angel at least, I sim- 
ply could not scold her, and you never do discipline 
her, and I fear that as a result she will be totally 
spoiled. 

44 1 do wish that her mother would come. I do 
not feel as though I could endure the responsi- 
bility another day. I begin to understand the wise 
providence that has caused me to remain unmar- 


AMORE. 


21 


ried ; the responsibility of motherhood would kill 
me. I do think that Caroline might hasten home. 
James, you talk to Theodora about the importance 
of choosing more refined associates, will you? ” 

44 Really, Maria, she has you under greater sub- 
jection than I had comprehended. I have never 
known you to shirk an obvious duty before. Then, 
reflect upon the calmly selfish manner in which 
you express your desire to roll this burden of 
responsibility back upon your more delicate sister. 
Now, that is a joke, Maria, so please stop prepara- 
tions for your 4 real, good cry.’ ” 

44 But, James dear, I cannot bear to be joked 
upon this subject. It is becoming one of almost 
much importance to me. You know, my dear 
brother, that I have endeavored to lead a consistent 
life as a member of the Orthodox Church for 
years, and have never allowed myself to be dis- 
turbed by any doubts ; but that child, James, that 
ten-year-old child, has actually caused me to deny 
some of the leading doctrines and cardinal points 
of the catechism.” 

44 Where is she, Maria ? I do not think this con- 
versation in her hearing will improve matters very 
much. The little witch is sufficiently aware of 
her own powers already.” 


22 


AMORE. 


44 She has gone, like the wind ; gone to dance or 
to pray, you can never tell which, and yet the 
strange fact about it all, is, whether she sings or 
prays, studies, dances or plays, her soul (as Victor 
Hugo says) seems to be ever on its knees in ador- 
ing love to God and humanity. This morning I 
heard her singing a prayer to 4 Our Heavenly Father 
and Mother and Brother and Sister.’ ” 

“What were some of the knotty, theological 
questions that have caused you so much anxiety, 
Maria ? ” 

44 Only yesterday, I was trying to teach her the 
4 Shorter Catechism ’ and explaining to her the 
meaning of 4 total depravity,’ when she looked 
straight at me (almost through me, it seemed) 
with those wonderful eyes of her, and said, 4 auntie, 
what is “omniscient” and 44 omnipresent ”? ’ I 
was endeavoring to explain the words to her, when, 
to my amazement, she jumped up and clapped her 
hands and fairly danced with delight as she said : 
4 O, goody, goody, goody, there isn’t any devil, 
there isn’t any devil, nobody but God,’ and then 
continued, 4 1 knew it, I knew it, because I have 
been thinking about it, ever so much ; because you 
see, auntie, if God is everywhere, that just crowds 
the devil right out ; and if God is good and He 


AM ORE. 


23 


made everything, why, of course, He never could 
have made a devil, and if one should try to grow, 
God would teach him how to grow good.’ And 
then she continued, 

“ 4 Please excuse me a minute, auntie, for I must 
go to tell Juliette. She is so afraid of the Devil, 
that she screams right out if she is left in the dark. 
I told her that I did not believe there was any, be- 
cause I had hunted for him everywhere. I had 
called him and called him to come to me, so that I 
could tell him all about God.’ 

44 J ames, I was such a coward, because I could 
not comprehend with my finite senses how God 
could be omnipotent and omnipresent and yet 
there remain room for the Devil, that I hastened 
to my room and emphasized a convenient head- 
ache as an excuse for discontinuing the lesson 
until I could have a talk with our Pastor ; but the 
matter did not end there. A few moments later, 
Theodora came running into my room, with her 
whole soul in her eyes, as she fairly clutched my 
hands and said : 

44 4 Aunt Maria, doesn’t God love the little 
naughty children ? He sees what makes them 
naughty.’ A good many times it is the grown-up 
folks that do it. He made them. He surely 


24 


AMORE. 


loves His little children, if no one else does. I 
know He loves them, and that our kind, beautiful 
Father in Heaven would never, never burn one of 
his little children forever and ever. I know it, 
because I would not do such a cruel thing, and I 
know that I am not so good as God ? ’ 

“ James, the expression of her face convinced 
me that if I should tell her that I believed God 
would punish forever any of His children, or that 
there was a personal, actual Devil in the world, 
she would either lose all confidence in the Supreme 
Being, or hate Him from that moment; and so, 
while I have publicly professed to believe in the 
Devil and his angels, as also in total depravity and 
foreordination, I merely hugged the little, loving 
child to my heart and said, my darling, God is 
Love. He loves everything that He has created. 
He is just, therefore has no favorites and cannot 
be partial or unjust to any of His children. 

“Did I make a mistake, James? Was that 
a temptation from the Devil ? Should I have 
portrayed the terrors of the law to her ? ” 

“ If you had wished to make an Atheist of her, 
yes. Why cannot we keep our sacrilegious hands 
off of these little children, and, welcoming them 
as angels of God, by their pure hands and starry 


AMO RE. 


25 


eyes be guided back to Paradise and a radiant faith 
in the true, the beautiful and the good ? 

44 Did it ever occur to you, Maria, that he whom 
the Christian world professes to accept as its 
inspired guide, never so much as hinted at the 
total depravity of little children, but invariably 
referred to them as the best representatives of the 
4 Kingdom of Heaven ? ’ And I have never met any 
scientist or mathematician who could discover the 
exact moment when these same children, in their 
process of development into men and women, enter 
the condition of total depravity. And, I will con- 
fess that I have been doing a little investigating 
upon my own account recently, attempting to 
prove the statement, 4 Know the truth and the truth 
shall make you free,’ and I have saved quotations 
from one or two authorities to read to you. Pro- 
fessor Swing, in a recent sermon, quoted as follows 
from Dr. Lyman Abbot : 

“ 4 Orthodoxy does not require belief in a devil 
but only in a God,’ and added, 4 These words seem 
true, for the soul of Christianity lies in its espousal 
of God and Christ and not in its enmities or beliefs 
towards any rival powers of the air. The reasons 
for a God are innumerable and sublime, but the 
reasons for a Satan are few and weak.’ 


26 


AMOBK 


“Then we do not find a word concerning the 
Devil, either in the Ten Commandments or in the 
Sermon on the Mount. 

“ O, Maria, look lovingly into any eyes that ever 
glared or gleamed, and you will catch a glimpse 
of the angel imprisoned within.” 

“Well, I hope so; but, James dear, do be care- 
ful about entertaining these modern, liberal views. 
I do want you to be on the safe side.” 

“ It appears to me, Maria, that it is more dan- 
gerous not to have enough faith in the 4 Eternal 
Goodness ’ than too much. The only test Jesus 
Christ gave was the degree of our love to God 
and man. It would surely not be difficult for an 
earthly father to forgive a child for a great degree 
of faith and love. Better look out for yourself, 
sister.” 

***** 

Simply two children and a string of rare, old 
beads; a group of low-branched beach trees, a 
grassy sward starred with daffodils ; an every-day 
kind of a sunset as its golden frame, and yet to 
faithfully reproduce it would immortalize the 
artist, and prove another prophecy of that Golden 
Age, into which a little child shall lead us. 


AMORE. 


27 


CHAPTER III. 

A PHILOSOPHIC MAIDEN. 


“ That religion, philosophy or party that does not reach 
down to the lowliest home and the most oppressed human be- 
ing, was not born in Heaven.” — Francis W. Parker. 

“ Ceaseless growth means ceaseless emancipation. A gospel 
of hatred is” (seems to be?) “rising in classes and masses, 
which hates employers, hates employes, hates household 
service, hates household servants, hates foreigners, hates 
pools, hates trades-unions, hates the grangers, hates reformers, 
hates politics. All these are merely symptoms of a high fever ; 
but a new mankind has been conceived and will be born , a 
winged beauty out of the earth-measuring worm, which will not 
know force and fraud and hatred and will let love, their natural 
tie, bind men and women together.” — Henry Lloyd. 


Earle O’Neal had changed her “ sanctum ” 
and “ free dispensary,” as Robert ever insisted upon 
calling it, into a boudoir. The desk upon which 
she had written many loving, helpful suggestions 
to her sister-women had been replaced by a square- 


28 


AMORE. 


grand. The files of letters received from philan- 
thropists and reformers, had been pigeon-holed in 
the attic, and replaced by “ Gems of Operatic 
Song.” Space which had hitherto been yielded 
to a small table, upon which was conspicuously 
placed, for signatures, a petition praying for an 
Industrial School for the orphaned children of the 
State, was occupied by an easel. 

The shrine of the erst-time philanthropist was 
in fact changed into a luxurious apartment ; the 
former work-room metamorphosed into a segment 
of fairyland, while the presiding genius seemed 
to have been suddenly stricken with helplessness 
and apathetic indifference to everything save per- 
sonal ease, comfort, luxury and beauty. 

So entire a change had been wrought, that, as 
Earle O’Neal reclined upon a luxurious couch, 
drawn pleasantly near an open fire of aromatic 
woods, dressed in a robe of softest white cashmere, 
the artistic folds of which were held in place by a 
heavy cord and tassel, a clustre of golden-hearted 
pansies nestling in the filmy lace at her throat, a 
copy of the latest fashion-plate held in her hand, 
the shrewdest observer would have mistaken her 
for a “ born society queen.” 


AMORE. 


29 


She was roused from her study of the latest 
fashion edicts by the entrance of her friend and 
former co-laborer, Theodora Dwight, whose face 
indicated an almost alarmed surprise, as she noted 
the significant changes in the appointments of the 
room, but she merely questioned, “ are you ill, 
Earle, or have you forgotten that this is the day that 
we are to meet the committee appointed to draft 
the petition to our Governor, praying him to ap- 
point a woman upon the State Board of Charities ? ” 
“ Yes, I am sick, Theodora, sick at heart. I am 
a miserable failure. Having once put my hand to 
the plow, I have deliberately turned back. 4 The 
spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ Do not 
despise me, dear. I am only a woman ; alas, a 
woman with a weak, loving, clinging, dependent 
nature. I could not bear ridicule, misrepresenta- 
tion and opposition another hour. It was killing 
me. I endured the sarcasm and estrangement of 
my only, and almost idolized, brother. I was firm 
and brave, more heroic than even you compre- 
hended, when I took this wailing, aching heart of 
mine and strangled its yearning cries for love and 
appreciation and stood, forsaken amidst the ashes 
of a dead love, because my hero insisted that I 


30 


AMOIiE. 


must forego all public work and keep my name 
sacred for him, and never liave it given to the pro- 
fane eyes of the general public. But, when the 
very women for whom I was enduring the martyr- 
dom, sneered and ridiculed, when those whose 
children would receive great benefits from our 
labor, withheld their sympathy, when the women 
of my own church requested me not to serve as 
secretary in a temperance society, because I might 
thereby depopularize the ‘ Union Missionary So- 
ciety,’ of which I was President, then it seemed as 
though my heart was broken ; and when a com- 
mittee of un-Christ-like Christians called to inquire 
if I had good and sufficient reasons for believing 
innocent, before I employed her, the young woman 
who had languished for months in our county jail, 
under a charge of infanticide, which was afterwards 
proven false, then it seemed to me as though I died; 
died, because I did not wish to live any longer in 
a world where religion seemed to be such a farce, 
such a merely fashionable veneering, and where 
God and Justice, and Mercy and Love were myths. 
Theodora, I am dead; at least my old hopeful, 
enthusiastic self is dead ; here are the ashes, ashes 
with only enough life in them to create a little 


AMORE. 


31 


glow on my brother’s hearthstone and light my path, 
I hope, to some happier world, where it pays to be 
noble and true and unselfish. And I wish we were 
all there now.” 

“ Earle, dear, you are not well ; you are heart- 
sick and nervous from working too hard ; you need 
rest and change and things will seem brighter. 
Know this, dear heart, that I understand all about 
such matters, and I know every turn in the road. 
I have fought over every inch of this fearful battle- 
ground. This beautiful world of ours does seem 
to be sadly out-of-tune at times, and yet, of this 
truth I am convinced, nothing in this world pays 
so well as wisely directed, disinterested work for 
others. There seems to be no royal road to popu- 
larity. Every public preacher, successful artist, 
triumphant statesman renders a sure equivalent, in 
time, strength and sacrifice. And yet I am often 
thrilled with delight at the perfect compensations. 
Set over against the many who forsake us, when 
we rally to an unpopular standard or are deprived 
of luxurious belongings, the few friends gained 
and who love us for what we really are, and the 
scale will always swing in our favor.” 


32 


AMOliK 


who love us for what we really are, and the scale 
will always swing in our favor. 

“When we are actually enlisted in philanthropic 
work, it is not the gratitude that repays, it is the 
delight of being helpful, the blessedness of service. 
I chanced to mark in my birthday book, this very 
morning, that sentence of Lowell : 

‘ ’Tis not the grapes of Canaan that repay, 

But the high faith that fails not by the way.’ ’ 

“ Yes, I know that sounds very beautiful ; but 
the awful trouble is, Theodora, you do not know 
positively that you do make people any happier. 
When I read the facts about the condition of a 
large portion of the people in our great cities, it 
seems to me that civilization itself is a failure, and 
life itself, for that matter. I sometimes think, 
young as I am, that, in view of the awful things 
that threaten a young woman, I would be willing 
to say good-bye to the world now.” 

“ Oh, Earle, I think not. I imagine you would 
be like the old colored man, in that somewhat trite 
but quite apropos story my father used to tell, 
whose favorite amusement in the evening was 
sitting in an old arm-chair and rocking and accom- 


AMORE. 


33 


the Angel Gabriel to take old Uncle Peter 
home.’ 

“ Some of his 4 brederen,’ you remember, thought 
they would test his desire to leave this world, so 
one evening as the old man was rocking and sing- 
ing his favorite song, he was roused by raps on his 
window. 

44 4 Who’s dar ? ’ he asked anxiously. 

44 Low but distinct came the answer , 4 The Angel 
Gabriel. He has come to take Uncle Peter 
home.’ 

44 Whew ! and the candle was quickly blown out, 
while the singer’s voice was changed to a gruff 
bass, as he said : 4 Dere is no such a nigger heah. 
He has been dead about two week.’ 

44 No indeed, Earle, with your manifold blessings, 
your comparative wealth, your beauty, your oppor- 
tunity, you surely cannot be tired of life. Why, as 
for me, I have so many blessings that it makes me 
tired trying to be sufficiently grateful.” 

44 Theodora, I am in earnest, at least about one 
thing. In order to accomplish anything one must 
have position. Mere money will not do. Social 
position and money is the power that wins, and I 
3 


AMORE. 


34 

am determined to regain the position I forfeited by 
engaging in all these unpopular reforms if — well, 
if I am obliged to marry for it.” 

44 Earle, now I know that you are ill. You are 
not like yourself. Marry for position ? I believe 
to add to such a crime the sin of perjury, to promise 
to 4 love, honor, and obey,’ when you do not, is a 
much greater crime than tempted women com- 
mit, who fall through love. What have you been 
reading ? ” 

44 Some dreadful sermons or articles in a leading 
religious paper. The writer of one, a clergyman, 
in whom I have had the greatest confidence, says, 
as a result of his long life of study and investiga- 
tion, 4 Verily, as the undeniable facts go, the whole 
world lieth in darkness, and Satan is, not merely 
claims to be, its God.’ 

44 It is the most depressing article I have read 
for a long time. It actually makes me sick, sick 
at heart, and that is certainly the worst phase of 
illness. Take the article home and read it, and 
tell me what you think of it. As for me, I feel as 
though I would die if I do not find relief from 
this nervous depression. Yesterday I tried to find 
help by going to church, but the sermon was 


AMORE. 


35 


simply dreadful. Tlie pastor, a most austere and 
orthodox D.D., chose for his text, the exclamation 
of Christ, ‘ My God, my God, why hast thou for- 
saken me ? ’ and then attempted to prove that it 
was not enough for Jesus of Nazareth to be for- 
saken by his mother, his brothers and sisters, and 
the disciples, but that God also forsook him. He 
portrayed Jesus as the holiest and most lovable 
being that had ever glorified the earth, and then 
said, 4 Now see God smite the Christ.’ Three 
women rose and left the church, but still this 
‘messenger,’ this man who was to bring ‘good 
tidings,’ or tidings of the good to all mankind, con- 
tinued, ‘ Friends, if you do not at this hour make 
your peace with God, you will remember this time 
and this scene, and this Sabbath evening, when 
you are writhing in hell.’ Make our peace with 
such a God as he had portrayed ? Theodora, I 
could not, and, what was worse, I should have 
hated myself if I had desired to. Do you believe 
that this minister had gained the right conception 
of that scene ? ” 

“ Earle, of course I am too young to be much of 
a theologian, and yet I have a simple little creed 
of my own, which I will try to make plain to you. 


36 


AMO RE. 


I cannot go out into the beauty of a starry night 
and believe the miracle enfolding me the result of 
chance. I believe in a God, a God of love, who 
somehow is lifting the world constantly toward 
the good. I believe that a God of love never has 
committed an act from which his creatures would 
shrink in horror. I believe that Jesus simply re- 
ferred to the fact that his disciples had all forsaken 
him. If he was God, he could not forsake himself, 
and if God is a ‘ God of love,’ then Christ could no 
more be forsaken of God than a child could wander 
away from a parent’s love. In view of the fact 
that so many interpretations of different passages 
of the Bible were decided by a vote exclusively of 
men, in an age when men, as a rule, had been 
taught by the prevailing philosophy of the world 
to love 4 justice and judgment,’ rather than mercy ; 
when I find a passage in the Bible which, if I must 
accept, would make me doubt that this beautiful, 
wonderful world, with its heroism and its aspira- 
tions, its loves and its friendships, was created 
by a Great Spirit of Love, I prefer to believe that 
somehow the translators have made a mistake. And 
you know, thousands of words have been changed 
in recent translations. And finally, Earle, I believe 


AMOHE. 


37 


that God gave us reason before he gave us Bibles, 
else how could we decide which was the true Bible 
when there are so many sacred books. But I must 
go. Cheer up, Dearie, and oh, believe that 4 all 
things do work together for good.’ ” 

44 Undoubtedly they do for some people, you, 
for instance. It is easy enough for you to be good ; 
and everybody likes you, no matter what you do. 
I actually believe you could adopt the most radical 
dress reform costume, and everybody would think 
it ‘just lovely,’ and proceed to follow the fashion; 
while if I should do such a thing, they would 
chase me out of town. At any rate, I am going to 
the opera to-night. One thing can be said in re- 
gard to the theatre, at least. The most popular 
plays are always those where honor and goodness 
triumph, and where fraud and villainy are always 
detected and punished. I think the first time I 
have laughed for three days was, when reading a 
statement this morning, that during a presenta- 
tion of 4 Othello,’ in a Western mining town, even 
the cow-boys, forgetting that the play was not real, 
became so excited at the villainy of Iago, that they 
commenced shooting, and actually shot off the end 
of his nose.” 


38 


A MORE. 


“ Is not that a glorious proof of the innate good- 
ness of mankind, Earle ? Why do men love truth, 
honesty, and spirituality ? Why do the basest of 
men almost idolize pure little children, unless in 
their own innermost natures they are good ? ” 

“ Oh,. I might have known that you would have 
found some optimistic argument, in answer ; but 
now tell me, Theodora, answer me from the depths 
of your soul, don’t you ever feel a kind of dumb 
despair in regard to the condition of our sex? 
Don’t you think God is cruel to women ? Can you 
read the history of witchcraft with its thousands 
of women victims, the record of the child-wives of 
the Orient, of the slave mothers of our own country, 
and feel in your own soul the oppressions and limi- 
tations to which we are subjected, and not conclude 
that if you had been God, you would have made 
the world a happier, safer, freer place for women ? 
Or do you hug your chains and kiss the hand that 
smites you, like most other slaves ? ” 

“ Earle, you probe deep. How can any woman 
who loves justice and mercy escape at times an 
agony of questioning as to all that cruel past, and 
the wrongs perpetrated upon men, women and 
children in this very present. Of course I have 


AMORE. 


89 


endured the agony of doubt, and in the presence 
of one or two horrors have understood what Job 
meant when he was about ready to 4 curse God and 
die,’ and yet, Earle, recently, somewhere, somehow, 
I have caught a never-to-be-forgotten glimpse of 
the 4 Eternal Goodness ’ until I am ready to trust 
God and live. I believe there is an answer to the 
so called problem of evil , and the object of my life is 
to find it . 

44 One great truth has already dawned upon me, 
which illuminates much of the darkness, and that 
is, that we are souls, not bodies, and hence woman is 
free. No tyrant has ever lived, possessed of sufficient 
power to enslave spirit. And the tyrants of the 
world have felt their helplessness in this direction. 
To-day I walk this beautiful earth, erect, firm, self- 
respectful, glad and thankful for womanhood, de- 
voutly grateful for the supreme benediction of pos- 
sible motherhood, choosing to belong to a class, for 
the present unjustly deprived of just wage and con- 
stitutional rights, rather than to a dominant, strong, 
victorious sex, which selfishly refuses to share its 
rights and privileges with loving wives, mothers, 
and daughters. Who would not prefer to be the 
oppressed rather than the oppressor, to be the 


40 


AMO HE. 


patient, loving slave, rather than the selfish, cruel 
tyrant. It seems to me the tyrant and oppres- 
sor are the ones to feel humiliated. And when 
woman recognizes that she is free, and rises to the 
dignity of a spirit made in the image of God, she 
will give to the world a new race, and the golden 
age will dawn. It is dawning even now.” 

“ Really, Theodora, you wax almost eloquent, 
and I would that your optimistic vision might 
prove true ; but we live in the midst of cruel facts. 
Listen to the story of the next wronged woman 
you meet, and you will realize that we are living 
in an age of steel, and that the only legitimate 
weapons by which woman may secure any influence 
are beauty, wealth, and social position. 

“ I have thought the problem through, and here 
goes for a high-priced pew in a fashionable church, 
silence upon all unpopular reforms, and for money, 
position, and influence, even though I am obliged 
to marry for them, and then when they are gained 
I may hope to accomplish some good. I suppose 
you, Theodora, will choose the thornier path, and 
throw away your beauty and many gifts upon a 
heartless and ungrateful world, upon women who 
will ridicule, and men who will pity you.” 


AM ORE. 


41 


“ Possibly, yes ; but my intention is to at least 
endeavor to preserve the self-respect of the one 
human being for whom I am accountable, myself. 
Earle, I believe, the most fickle, ungrateful master 
one can serve is 4 Public Opinion.’ The so-called 
despised fanatic of to-day may be the crowned 
hero of to-morrow, but he alone is victor who 
never betrays the truth or pays homage to a lie. 

“ I agree with you, dear heart, that many things 
do seem in a tangle. And when it seems that I 
cannot bear my own thoughts in regard to the 
poverty and suffering of the world, I seek the 
silence of the woods, or of the starlight, where 
evermore I seem to hear a voice of gladness bid- 
ding me to work and trust in patience, and assur- 
ing me that sometime, somehow, somewhere, I will 
surely find the key ; and such strange things are 
happening, so many are catching faint glimmerings 
of light or 4 hearing the rustle of a wing,’ that it 
almost seems, at times, that soon the heavens will 
open and the angels of God will again walk with 
men.” 

“ Oh, yes, I know there are strange whisperings, 
and many look wise and affect, what I heard De- 
light designate as, a “ wildly sibylline and oracular 


42 


AMORE. 


air, and yet, when you attempt to actually verify 
any of these occult experiences, they have happened 
in some other state, or the illuminated person has 
just left town. Now, if you would look into my 
eyes and tell me that you had actually experienced 
anything remarkable, I would believe it, but I take 
it that you never have ; have you ? ” 

“ Yes, Earle, I think I can say truthfully that I 
have, but to endeavor to translate spiritual experi- 
ences into words, is well-nigh as impossible as to 
describe the perfume of a lily or a rose to a person 
who has never known the sense of smell. It is 
the development of a new sense. 

“The voices heard by Joan of Arc resounded 
not in the ears of her executioners. The visions 
which irradiate the faces of our loved ones are not 
always seen by us. 

“ Earle, I think I will give you one little expe- 
rience which was rich in suggestiveness to me, and 
yet it may not mean anything to you. 

“ It happened during my visit to the country 
last June. My cousin has - a beautiful grove of 
several acres, and in a peculiarly secure and yet 
retired spot, a kind friend swung a hammock for 
me, every day that was suitable, and there, alone 


AMORE. 


48 


in the sacred silence, many strange experiences were 
enjoyed. I will, however, only ask yon to listen to 
one ; and I now find myself hesitating about tell- 
ing you of this one, for the strange sensations 
which made part of the experience cannot be given 
in words. However I will describe it as best I may. 

* “ ’T was one of the charmed days 
When the genius of God doth show ’ 

“ The birds seemed silenced by the brooding 
spirit of Peace ; the wild roses, which broidered 
the sward, like fragments of a roseate sunset, 
seemed to just smile with fragrance. Lying with 
my face turned skyward, my whole being seemed 
to emerge into this loving question, ‘ O Infinite 
Spirit of Love and Truth, in such manner as Thy 
divine wisdom directs, reveal to me the reason 
why my eyesight seems not as perfect as in my 
childhood. What truth is it that I fail to see, 
which reflects upon me this suggestion of weak- 
ness ? ’ 

“ I waited, expecting an answer. 

“ Slowly, slowly, fluttering free from an over- 
arching tree, one large, perfect leaf came circling 
down, finally resting upon my breast with what 
seemed to me a human touch. 


44 


AMORE. 


44 So impressive was the slow descent of the leaf, 
that I exclaimed aloud : 4 Thank you, for it seems 
that the falling leaf comes freighted with a special 
message, an answer to my prayer.’ Then my 
reason asserted itself, and in actual shame and 
confusion I exclaimed, 4 Well, Theodora, I think 
it is high time for you to call a halt. Stop reading 
and thinking along spiritual lines, if you are 
becoming so extremely sensitive that you cannot 
see a leaf fall without thinking it bears a special 
message to you.’ 

44 Thoroughly annoyed and almost disgusted with 
myself, I arose for the purpose of returning to the 
cottage, when a 4 voice without a sound ’ whispered, 
4 Dear heart, if you doubt your own impressions, 
open the book which lies at your feet.’ 

44 The book was a new volume of 4 Whittier.’ I 
picked up the volume and it opened at a strangely 
significant poem which I had never before read, 
and although I have since made at least a hundred 
attempts, I have never been able to cause the 
volume to open at the same page. I have a copy 
of the poem here, a part of which I would like to 
read to you. It was prefaced as follows : 


AMOR& 


45 


‘ THE CYPRESS-TREE OF CEYLON. 

‘ (Ibn Batuta, the celebrated Mussulman traveller of the four- 
teenth century, speaks of a cypress-tree in Ceylon, universally 
held sacred by the natives, the leaves of which were said to 
fall only at certain intervals, and he .who had the happiness to 
find and eat one of them, was restored at once to youth and 
vigor. The traveller saw several saints, sitting silent and 
motionless under the tree, patiently awaiting the falling of a 
leaf .) 1 

“ Please remember, Earle, I had asked for the 
truth about my apparently failing eyesight. 

‘ They sat in silent watchfulness, 

The sacred cypress-tree about, 

And, from beneath old wrinkled brows, 

Their failing eyes looked out. 

‘ Gray age and sickness, waiting there 
Through weary night and lingering day 
Grim as the idols at their side, 

And motionless as they. 

‘ Unheeded in the boughs above, 

The song of Ceylon’s birds was sweet; 

Unseen of them, the island flowers 
Bloomed brightly at their feet. 

* They waited for that falling leaf, 

Of which the wandering Jogees sing; 

Which lends once more to wintry age, 

The greenness of its spring. 


46 


AMORE. 


‘ Oh, if these poor and blinded ones, 

In trustful patience wait to feel, 

O’er torpid pulse and failing limb, 

A youthful freshness steal ; 

4 Shall we, who sit beneath that Tree, 

Whose healing leaves of life are shed, 

In answer to the breath of prayer, 

Upon the waiting head ; 

‘ Not to restore our failing forms, 

And build the spirit’s broken shrine, 

But on the fainting soul to shed 
A light and life divine ; 

‘ Shall we grow weary in our watch, 

And murmur at the long delay ? 

Impatient of our Father’s time 
And His appointed way ? ” 

44 But, lest I weary yon, I will leave the re- 
mainder of the poem for you to read at your 
leisure. I give you the facts as they occurred, 
and I have thought much about them. Was it all 
chance ? And with regard to the lesson, you, who 
know me so well, will recognize how much I 
needed to be reminded that it is easier far in heroic 
hours to dare Life’s great things, and ‘ gird us 
bravely to rebuke our erring brother,’ than to con- 
stantly practice the high philosophy which it is so 
easy to preach.” 

44 Yes, Theodora, that was quite a striking coin- 


AMORE. 


47 


cidence, but you surely do not for a moment expect 
me to believe that some invisible spirit, or guardian 
angel, vouchsafed to give you as direct a message 
as that ? I think if you do, that it is high time 
for you to call a * halt ’ to your vagaries and come 
down and live with us common every-day folks, 
for a while. You are very sweet and bewitching, 
but you do fly that transcendental kite of yours a 
little too high, and I advise you not to repeat that 
story to any one else.” 

Theodora had received another lesson. It was 
so difficult for her to realize that spiritual expe- 
riences, such as she had enjoyed, as a result of her 
child-like faith, could only be spiritually discerned. 
To a generous nature, such as hers, the impos- 
sibility of sharing some of the sublimest expe- 
riences of her life, often amounted to acute 
suffering. With tears in her great, loving eyes, 
she bade her friend good-morning, and walked 
out, feeling strangely alone, into the glory of the 
summer morning, in whose shadowy silence she 
soon found harmony, peace and God. 


48 


AMORE. 


CHAPTER IV. 

BETWEEN THE ACTS. 


“ As before, in the old-fashioned manner, I fit 
To this character, also, its moral, to wit: 

Say the world is a nettle ; disturb it, it stings, 

Grasp it firmly, it stings not — One of two things — 

If you would not be stung, it behooves you to settle — 

, Avoid it, or crush it. She crushed not the nettle 
For she could not, nor would she avoid it. 

“ Let any man once show the world that he feels 
Afraid of its bark, and ’twill fly at his heels; 

Let him fearlessly face it, ’twill leave him alone; 

But ’twill fawn at his feet if he flings it a bone.” 

Meredith. 

It is a gala night with the fashionable world at 
the Opera ; queens of song upon the stage ; queens 
of society in the audience ; queens of hearts in 
the boxes : one of the most notable being Earle 
O’Neal, who to-night creates a genuine sensation 
by her reappearance in society. A most becoming 
and artistic costume enhances her beauty, while 
the brilliancy of her eyes, and the gleam of her 


AMORE . 


49 


jewels soon attract several masculine moths, idly 
fluttering near. 

With her keen susceptibility to beauty of form 
and color, Earle yielded herself wholly to the 
witchery of the hour. The weird strains of 
music, the perfume of rare flowers, the graceful 
compliments of old friends, the evident pride and 
pleasure of her brother, together with the homage 
of new admirers, seemed to erase from her memory 
the past years of lonely and often unappreciated 
endeavor, while the present hour seemed to pervade 
with restful intoxication every sense. It really 
seemed that (to change the old couplet), 

She slept and dreamed that life was duty, 

She awoke to find that life was beauty. 

The opening scene of the opera was the inner 
shrine of an old Grecian temple, with its altars of 
aromatic incense ; but the subtle and mystic spell of 
the suggestive picture was rudely broken by the 
entrance upon the stage, of groups of most modern- 
ized French ballet dancers, whose blase faces and 
sensuous forms suddenly roused Earle O’Neal 
from her dream of beauty into a troubled awaken- 
ing. And, to the intense surprise of one of the 
“ fellahs from the club,” she sat with half-averted 


50 


AMORE. 


face until the dance (which proved to be as objec- 
tionable as the most lax audience would allow) 
was completed. 

“ You do not — ah — enjoy the ballet, I feah — aw 
— it is the very powetwy of moion.” 

“ An Oratorio well sung is beautiful as a sacra- 
ment to me ; an opera with refined and harmonious 
setting, a poem ; but I cannot truthfully say that 
such dancing, or jumping and posing, as we have 
just witnessed, even aside from its incongruity, is 
attractive ; while your responsive applause and that 
of my good brother are a surprise to me.” 

“Ah, Miss O’Neal, you are so extwemely owig- 
inal that — aw — , pardon me, but I do not quite 
understand why you should be at all bewildered. 
It seems so very funny, don’t you naw.” 

“ Well, I will explain. My brother and a 
number of our friends threatened me with banish- 
ment to a convent or 6 female boarding-school,’ 
because I attended a convention, where, although 
there were two thousand fashionably-dressed women, 
there was one sweet little woman who wore a most 
modest Bloomer costume. This same brother tele- 
graphed me to return home at once, and some of my 
girl friends, who, by the way, i adore the Opera,’ 


A MORE. 


51 


were greatly disturbed through fear that I might 
become contaminated. If the lady in the Bloomer 
costume had changed her dress for one with much 
less claim to modesty, and had danced, instead of 
having talked earnestly and eloquently upon the 
best methods of making children happy, conse- 
quently moral and healthful, they would have 
swelled the applause and rained roses at her feet.” 

“ The young fellah from the Club” was at a loss for 
an answer. Robert O’Neal gave his sister an appeal- 
ing glance, and there were sure indications of an 
embarrassing silence, when the curtain oppor- 
tunely rose upon the closing scene. 

As Robert O’Neal bade his sister good-niglit, he 
said, “ Earle, even though you have been out of 
polite society for so short a time, you seem to have 
forgotten some of its basic principles, or per- 
haps I would better say, its unwritten laws, amongst 
which are, ‘ Never announce decided opinions,’ 
‘ Never criticise the lion or the fad of the hour,’ 
and, above all, ‘ Never philosophize,’ as you did 
this evening in regard to the ballet dancers.” 

“ Oh, dear ! Robert, it does seem as though the 
‘ Exclusives ’ exclude a great deal that is enjoyable, 
for instance, Delight Friske’s spontaneity is far 


52 


AMORE. 


more refreshing to me, at times, than the most de- 
licious ice or a box from 4 Gunthers,’ and yet, alas, 
I must admit that I do love the glitter and the 
gaiety, the music, the luxury ; and I have missed 
it so — fairly starved for it, at times. I seem to have 
two natures, and the social nature is the stronger. 
Somehow I can’t bear to be laughed at by society 
people ; not even by such a Miss Nancy as my 
escort of this evening. And yet I hate myself 
for this very weakness. If I should ever attempt 
to enter upon reform work again, I think it would 
be to introduce a little more sense into social life, 
and a little more non-sense into reform work.” 

“ Theodora seems to have discovered the secret 
of the combination.” 

“ Oh, please do not quote Theodora to me. Much 
as I do love and admire her with one part of my 
nature, at times I almost hate her. But just as I get 
ready to hate, she is sure to make me love her. 
And yet she is not entirely angelic. Good-night ! ” 


AMORE. 


53 


CHAPTER V. 

“JUST FOR FUN.” 

“ There is no darkness on the earth, 

There is no cloud in heaven ; 

Each draws to each and both are filled 
With the grace of the golden leaven.” 

“ Sing sweetly a song for the days that are gone, 

They were merry and glad and free ; 

But, O for the days that are yet to come, 

And the joys that are yet to be.” 

Anonymous. 

Whenever we find a keen appreciation of 
humor, combined with intuition and altruism, we 
almost always meet with a most lovable individual- 
ity. We have accepted as one definition of man, “ a 
laughing animal.” We recognize the potency of 
satire and burlesque. We see how much of the 
quaint and the grotesque there is in the world, and 
yet how few have divined the mystery of fun. 
The ascetic habit is still so firmly fixed that we 
are almost afraid to be happy, and we harbor, 
although unconsciously, the impious superstition 
that we are liable to “ pay up ” with increased 
interest, for a day or an hour of genuine frolic. 

And yet, what a blessing to a household, a 


54 


AMOHE. 


neighborhood or a village, a merry, comical, origi- 
nal, fnn-loving person is. Although the dismay 
of the teacher, yet how refreshing such a spirit is 
in “ class” or in school-room. Although a “ holy 
terror ” to the pastor, how electrifying and awaken- 
ing such a wholesome person is in a church. And 
how often business-burdened men forget for a 
moment the state of the market, as they pause to 
repeat the latest witticism of some such “ unbusiness- 
like mind.” And, best of all, what a benediction to 
the children, whose little hearts are often so chilled 
and frightened by the solemn, anxious faces, and 
the gloomy, black-robed figures that pass them in 
the streets ? 

The village of which we write was enriched by 
two or three such characters, the most lovable one 
being a young girl whose name, Delight Friske, by 
a happy and unusual circumstance, was perfectly 
adapted to her manner and characteristics. How 
could a girl with such a name be seriously sedate 
and dignified ! It was as impossible for her as for 
Deacon Marble, in “ Norwood,” whom I think must 
have been one of her ancestors. You remember 
how Polly Marble (who was never known to 
laugh) expostulated with her husband, saying, 
“ I have always said that I couldn’t imagine why 


AMO EE. 


55 


they ever made you a deacon, a man whose eyes 
and face are always agoin’ as if they were making 
fun of the sacred office. I think deacon-timber 
was scarce when they picked you out.” 

To which the kind-hearted, irresistible, little 
deacon replied : 

“ Mercy on us, Polly, I didn’t make myself a 
deacon. But I never see any harm in laughing. 
If it’s a sin, I can’t see what the Lord lets so many 
funny things happen for. I didn’t go and make 
things funny. They come to me. The whole 
world is full of queer things, and it ain’t my fault 
if I see them.” 

Delight would probably have supplemented the 
good deacon’s thought by saying, “ If it was not 
intended for me to tell funny things, how does it 
happen that I am always sure to be an eye-witness 
to the drollest things that ever do happen.” 

Some such thought must have been passing 
through her mind on the September morning of 
which we write, as, driving up to the gate which 
Theodora Dwight was opening, she said, in a 
strangely sweet and musical voice, “Fortunate 
again as usual, Dorian, what a lucky child you are, 
always certain to secure just what you wish for. 
No doubt you were thinking what a glorious 


56 


AMORE. 


morning for a drive. And here I am ready to be 
your most willing footman. 

“ Jump in and take a drive with me (I will 
make everything satisfactory with your mother) ; 
for as usual something awfully funny has hap- 
pened, and I am crazy to tell it to such a good 
auditor as you always are.” 

The invitation was promptly accepted, and with 
scarcely a moment’s interruption, Delight con- 
tinued, 

“ I said I wanted an audience, and, Dorian, you 
are about the best I ever find. You are so large 
(mentally of course) and so many-sided that you 
remind me of what that saucy Ben Hastings said 
to dear old Auntie Hill at the Sunday-school 
picnic lost summer. You know she has become 
very stout, and she was standing behind a very 
slim, forked poplar tree, when Ben called out : 4 W ell 
really, Auntie Hill, is that only you ? I saw you 
both sides of the tree, and I thought there were 
two or three of you ; in fact a whole group.’ 

“ And the blessed, dear heart was not at all pro- 
voked. She is too kind and unselfish to be pro- 
voked at any one for having a little bit of fun at 
her expense. She does not belong to your high 


AMORE. 


57 


and mighty 4 goody, goodies,’ who are so proud of 
their piety, that they seem to think they are made 
out of a very superior kind of clay, while to smile 
at their weaknesses is to tear down the 4 dearest 
idol they have known.’ 

44 But what I was just about to say (when this 
old horse took me clear off of the track) was, that 
you seem to be a whole group of girls. How is it, 
Dorian, that such different kinds of girls seem to 
love you. Is it because you are so good that you 
really do love everybody, or because you are so 
deceitful that you make everybody think you do ? 
There is something mysterious about it. Now you 
know the ministers are always falling in love with 
you, and that is not so strange ; but how does it 
happen that some of the worst young men in the 
village seem to be caught by the same contagion ? I 
am going to tell you what one of the best women 
in our church said about you the other day. She 
said it was a great mystery to her why, if you 
were as good as some people seemed to think you 
were, some of the most dissipated young men in 
the village claimed you as a special friend, and 
that when you were so ill last winter, her brother 
(who clerks in the post-office, you know) said 


58 


AMORE . 


that it made him tired answering all the men, 
women and children that called to inquire about 
you. What is your secret, Dorian ? ” 

One of Delight’s peculiarities was the coining 
of special pet names for her friends, hence Theo- 
dora was always called Dorian. 

“ I fear you are making serious drafts upon 
your imagination, Delight, but if I have any 
secret,” replied Theodora (meanwhile quietly 
brushing away a happy tear at the thought of the 
kindly inquiries made concerning her) “it is largely 
due, I think, to what I once heard a wise and 
philosophic old gentleman say, and it was to this 
effect : W e should remember whenever we make 
a new acquaintance or hear any new subject dis- 
cussed, that if we have any very decided and long- 
cherished ideas of our own, that what we most need 
is the thought or experience of the person most 
opposite to us in thought and temperament, in 
order that we may preserve harmony, or strike the 
true balance. 

“ I understood him to mean, for instance, that 
a woman, who was as neat a housekeeper as 
Samantha Allen’s cousin, who ‘ scoured the rafters 
in the barn, and thought her husband was cruel 
when he refused to ride horseback and take a 


AMORE. 


59 


broom in order to drive the flies out of the yard ; ” 
most needed for a friend one who had learned the 
secret of letting some lesser things go, in order to 
attend to the greater. And that the men and 
women who place the greater emphasis on outward 
forms of religious ceremonies most needed for 
friends those persons who had enjoyed an inward 
or spiritual experience. 

“ And then, really, Delight, I always seem to 
find something good in everybody. Everybody has 
always been so kind to me, and as I scarcely ever 
seem to be able to return kindnesses to the very 
persons from whom I receive them, in order to 
keep even with the world, I must needs be as kind 
as I can to the other folks. And then, again, I 
seem to possess two natures, or the tendency to 
reaction is very strong in me. Can you believe 
that sometimes after I have attended a meeting, 
where I could have cried my heart out over the 
sufferings of the wives and children of drunkards, 
if that would have availed anything, and where 
perhaps I have given the very last dollar of my 
allowance, yet as soon as I reached home I seem 
possessed to sing all the comic songs I ever knew. 
And what may seem more strange still, often, 


60 


AMORE. 


upon returning from some of our home-dances, I 
have been so happy and so grateful for life, and joy 
and friendship, that without even waiting to take 
off my adornments, I have knelt down at my 
window and prayed as I never could have done at 
prayer-meeting, even though the brethren had 
allowed me to. And what seems yet more in- 
consistent still, sometimes at prayer-meeting, when 
I realize all the peace and comfort of understand- 
ing that we are actually in a world governed and 
controlled by an omnipotent Spirit of Love, that 
life is a divine gift, and that ‘ all things do work 
together for good,’ I actually long to make the old 
organ ring to some of the most rollicking music 
ever composed. But, enough of egotism or egoism. 
Now please tell me, Delight, what was so dread- 
fully funny ? ” 

“ Well, as I was driving along I chanced to 
overtake old Mrs. Jordon, and you may imagine 
I was somewhat surprised at seeing her, owing to 
the fact that the latest news I had heard concern- 
ing her was, that she was dead. I asked her to 
allow me to take her home. I have always been 
fond of her. She is so kind, and yet so wonder- 
fully original. And this is what she said : 


AMOBE. 


61 


“ 4 How-de-do, Delight ? you thought I was dead, 
I reckon. I was mighty nigh it. Doctors and 
everybody had given me up. Had three of ’em 
there — doctors I mean. But, really now, child, 
what the doctors don’t know is a great comfort 
to the rest of us ignorant people. Well, I might 
have known that I wasn’t good enough to die yet, 
for, weak as I was, I caught myself smiling at the 
thought of how Cousin Mehitable would look in 
my green silk dress. She had always wanted it, 
and I had promised it to her, notwithstanding her 
red hair. Well, as I was saying, I did begin to 
think my time had come, when old Sister Doleful 
came a wriggling in, with her cold hands and 
green spectacles, and her awfully pious air, and 
said, “Well, Sister Jordon, I have allers thought 
you’d go just in this way.” Now, Delight, we 
have been members of the same church nigh onto 
forty years, but I never could endure that woman, 
and I just thought “ she thinks she is so smart,” and 
right there I resolved I wouldn’t go, just that way, 
just to disappoint her. Sure enough I commenced 
to get better right off, and here I am.’ 

“Well, I thought that was too funny, and the next 
person I met was our new minister, and I told him 


62 


AMORE. 


about it, and it actually did me good to hear him 
laugh, and it was well for him that he did, for if 
he had not I would have written him down with 
my list of hypocrites. I have known him since he 
was a small boy in kilts, made mud pies with him 
often, and know what a sense of humor he has, 
and if he had not, laughed, I should have known 
that he wanted to, but was afraid, because he was 
a minister. By the way, it is awfully hard for me 
to treat him with proper respect, because he seems 
so like the boy I used to play with. He was 
the most glorious boy I ever knew, but then it 
was principally his mother's and his father' s fault, 
as I told him the other day. 

“ I never knew a boy to be treated as he was. 
His parents have a delightful home near one of 
those beautiful lakes in Wisconsin. I never can 
remember its Indian name. I once passed a month 
there with his mother. His room was just as 
dainty and beautiful as any girl’s, and I remember 
how surprised I was one day, when his mother 
had made some scientific statement to a guest, 
and he said, ‘Excuse me, mother, but the more 
recent writers do not agree with that statement.’ 
Oh, my ! I thought he would be sent to his room 


AMORE. 


63 


and the little picnic we had planned for that after- 
noon would be spoiled entirely, when, to my sur- 
prise, his mother, instead of glaring upon him in 
dignified rebuke, fairly beamed with admiration, and 
said, 4 Thank you, dear, for reading so carefully.’ 
Then turning to her guest she said: 4 We tell 
our children that we are always glad to give them 
the benefit of our experience, but we wish them to 
do their own thinking ; that we have changed and 
modified our views about many things, and we 
wish them always to look hopefully into the future, 
and bravely into the past, and to give us their 
truest thoughts. 

44 If my childhood had been passed in such a heaven 
as that, I would have been a better girl ; but when 
the funny thoughts would come to me, I was told 
that I was wicked, and either shut up in a dark 
closet or seated on a hard stool, and compelled to 
read five chapters of the Bible. 

44 1 said a dreadful thing to Mr. W ard the other 
day. Old Auntie White asked me right out before 
him, if I did not think his sermon, last Sabbath 
evening, was beautiful. W ell, Dorian, for a minute 
I was seriously tempted to tell an awful lie, but in 
another minute I decided I wouldn’t, so I said. 


64 


AMO BE. 


No, ma’am, I am sorry to say that I did not. Then 
I turned to Mr. Ward and said, your morning 
sermon on the ‘ new commandment,’ I thought was 
excellent, but that evening discourse about 4 Elijah 
and the Chariot’ and the horses — well, excuse me 
please, but it seemed to me that those horses were 
so materialistic, that if they had gone up, literally, 
it would have necessitated livery stables in Heaven. 
Well, sweetheart, would you believe it, he was 
not angry at all. He laughed just a faint, weak 
kind of a laugh, then looked sober a moment and 
said, 4 1 thank you, Miss Delight, the next time 
you compliment one of my sermons, I will know 
that you mean it. I had a haunting fear of that 
kind after I had preached that sermon. It was 
one of the few sermons that had not received the 
benefit of my mother’s criticism.’ Wasn’t that 
manly in him ? 

44 By the way, ’ he said to me, 4 Please tell me who 
Theodora is ? Is she a Sister of Charity, or a Blue 
Stocking, a Temperance Lecturer or an Actress ? 
I made a few pastoral calls the other day, and in 
nearly every home some one referred to Theodora.’ 
I could not decide whether Theodora was a very 
popular name, and each family possessed one, or 


AMOUE . 


65 


some veritable angel of philanthropy, or an em- 
bodied spirit of fun, for atone place the young 
ladies were quoting something Theodora had said 
in her lecture, at another I was invited to partake 
of some excellent angel’s-food cake, and one of the 
ladies said to her friend, 44 This is made according to 
Theodora’s receipt ; of course it is good.” At the 
third house two very boyish boys entertained me 
with glowing accounts of a delightful nutting 
excursion of which Theodora was the heroine. 

“ 4 You may imagine my surprise after hearing so 
much good about this chameleon, to have Deacon 
Watchem come to me to unburden his mind of a 
great load of anxiety, because of the unfortunate in- 
fluence exerted over the young people of the church 
by a young woman who was the teacher of one of the 
largest classes in the Sabbath school. And the most 
surprising fact in the whole matter, he said, was 
that this large class of young people, many of them 
children who did not attend any church, had been 
attracted to the school by this same teacher, and 
would not come at all if any change were made. 
And the name of this young woman was Theodora 
Dwight. 

“ 4 The deacon’s wife however, made prompt ex- 
planation by saying , 44 Now, Daniel, what if she did 


AMO RE. 


OG 

play the piano that day and let her class dance a 
Virginia reel. Theodora herself explained it all to 
me quite satisfactorily. She does not enjoy the 
rough, kissing plays that some of the children like. 
Again, some of the boys became so excited over 
their tennis, that she was afraid that it might end 
in a fight. Then she said she sat down a moment 
to think what she could do next to entertain them, 
when she noticed the daffodils dancing in the 
breeze, and the leaves of the trees all fluttering 
with delight. And she thought music and motion 
seemed to be God’s way of entertaining the flowers, 
and the birds, and the waters, and so she tried it 
with the children. As she explained it to me, it 
did not seem to me that it was a bit wickeder than 
some of the grab-bag doings at our Church fairs.” 

“ 4 To which the anxious deacon replied, “ That’s 
the trouble with her, mother ; she is so kinder 
bewitchin’ with them loving eyes of hers, that she 
will make everything she does seem all right, 
every time. That’s why she is so dangerous.” 

“ ‘ You can understand, Miss Delight, that I have 
some curiosity to see this remarkable maiden. 
Who is she ? ’ 

“ Well, ahem ! Dorian, if you could have heard 


A MORE. 


67 


my eloquent description, I think you would leave 
town, as Mr. Ward expects to see an angel. 

“ But, please do not look so annoyed, dear, for I 
qualified it. Oh, I qualified it. After I had portrayed 
such a divinity to him, just the very ideal minis- 
ter’s wife, (or the ideal wife for a minister) I 
spoiled it all. Yes, deliberately spoiled it, for I 
have quite an admiration for him myself. And so 
I demurely remarked, 4 But there are some draw- 
backs. Theodora dances occasionally, and then 
she is engaged, and also deaf. I meant to explain 
that you were so engaged in philanthropic work, 
that you would be deaf to all his entreaties, but 
just then we met Deacon Stilwell, who asked Mr. 
Ward to get into his carriage as he wished to 
consult with him about a funeral, and so the con- 
versation ended by Mr. Ward saying ‘deaf, poor 
girl, what an affliction. I can truly sympathize 
with her.’ Wasn’t it funny that he should think 
you were actually deaf, and isn’t it too bad, that 
he should be so afflicted ? 

“ And that reminds me that I heard the other 
day, to add to your other vagaries, that you had 
attended some metaphysical lectures. If that is 
so, you would better practice on him ? 


68 


AMORE. 


“ But here we are at home. Remember that you 
promised to come and spend this evening with 
me, when you are to meet this same clerical gen- 
tleman. Now don’t say anything about the 
Dominie’s deafness. I imagine he is very sensitive 
about it. And don’t laugh if he screams at you, 
for I really believe that he concluded from what I 
said, that you were as deaf as a post. 

“ Come early. Forgive me for what I said and I 
will make it all right with the pastor. Good- 
bye !” 

Not good-bye just yet, because I have been 
wanting to ask you a question for the past month, 
but”— 

“ O, yes, I know I have never given you a chance 
with this perpetual motion tongue of mine. What 
is it, dearie ? ” 

“How did it happen that Philip Ward entered 
the ministry ? Our mothers were quite intimate 
friends when he was a boy, and my mother has 
told me that he was quite a scientist when he was 
young, and that he was educated in the most liberal 
manner ; that his father and mother were the most 
cosmopolitan and progressive couple that she had 
ever known, and that it was a great surprise to her 


AMOliE. 


69 


that their only child had chosen the orthodox 
ministry.” 

“ W ell, it has been a great surprise to me also, 
and to many other of his friends, who had antici- 
pated for him a scientific career. So you see we 
have some interesting work before us, to solve the 
mystery. I fairly dote on a mystery ; don’t you ? 
Good-bye ! ” 


TO 


AMOliJE. 


CHAPTER VI. 

A SOMEWHAT ORIGINAL INTRODUCTION. 

“ Strange things, I know, will happen, — 

Strange things the Lord permits ; 

But that droughty folk should be jolly 
Puzzles my poor old wits. 

“Here are smiling manly faces, 

And the maiden’s step is gay; 

Nor sad by thinking, nor mad by drinking, 

Nor mopes, nor fools, are they. 

“ Here’s pleasure. without regretting, 

And good without abuse, 

The holiday and the bridal 
Of beauty and of use.” 

Whittier. 

44 Surely the 4 funniest thing in the world ’ has 
happened, Delight, for you have been suffering 
from suppressed laughter ever since you came 
home. Don’t be selfish, daughter, but let me 
share the fun, I need it, for I have had a wearisome 
day.” 

44 O, papa, somebody has blundered, and I am 


AMORE. 


71 


afraid it was I ; but it is so awfully funny, at least 
it promises to be such a joke, that I did not make 
any great effort to correct the mistake. Now 
don’t look sober, for I know it will come out all 
right, and the curtain will fall at a happy wedding. 
But the present fact is, that our new minister and 
Theodora are to meet here for the first time, this 
evening, they are interested in each other in 
advance and so sympathetic, because — Oh ! to me 
it is such a joke that I want to scream — each one 
thinks the other is very deaf, - so if you happen to 
hear any unusual shouting in the parlor this 
evening, do not be frightened.” 

“ Delight,” (and not many times had Delight 
recognized so much sternness in her father’s voice,) 
you do carry your love of fun too far. You do not 
seem to have any reverence. Mr. Ward is a minis- 
ter of the gospel.” 

“ I know it, papa, but when you have made 4 mud 
pies ’ with your minister, and run from imaginary 
mad-dogs and climbed cherry trees with him, some- 
how he seems a good deal like other people. And, 
papa, if you had been confronted with the same 
chance that I was, to play a practical joke, you could 
no more have desisted than you can overcome that 


72 


AMORE. 


little wicked chuckle you indulge in when you beat 
Deacon Doolittle at draughts.” 

“ How could such a mistake occur, Delight ? ” 

“ Well, I was out riding and chanced to overtake 
Mr. W ard, and so asked him to ride home. He had 
been inquiring about Theodora, and I was inform- 
ing him, and I meant to conclude by saying that 
she was so engaged in her work that she was deaf 
to all unkind criticism ; when, just as I said she 
was deaf, Deacon Stilwell drove up to the carriage 
with a message for him and when we resumed the 
conversation, he said, ‘ What a pity she is deaf,’ 
adding, ‘ I can truly sympathize with her, for my 
best beloved cousin was afflicted in that way.’ I 
was reporting the conversation to Dorian when that 
wrong and wicked love of joking, that my mother 
says is inherited from my father, took possession 
of me, and I stated the case with a bit of mental 
reservation. It was the same kind of mental reser- 
vation as that about eternal punishment and the 
Devil’s angels, which a good many people call to 
their aid when they unite with the Church; the 
same kind of mental reservation which a good many 
young bridegrooms make when they say solemnly, 
‘With all my worldly goods I thee endow.’ You 


AMORE. 


73 


know all about it, papa dear. It is that same men- 
tal reservation which doctors make when they give 
bread pills. But here comes the minister, this 
minute, and, papa, if you divulge my secret, I will 
tell Judge Niblock how you voted at the last elec- 
tion.” 

Delight was really glad that the minister arrived 
first, because, as she afterward told Theodora, she 
did not believe that she could have refrained from 
confessing to her, had she come in advance of the 
dominie. 

Scarcely had Philip Ward secured a comfort- 
able seat near the window, when his eye rested 
upon what seemed to him to be the fairest type of 
womanhood he had ever seen. She might have 
posed as a study for one of the “ Seasons,” and yet 
the artist would have been troubled to designate 
which. Her dress, suited to the September evening, 
was of soft white wool material, while amid the nod- 
ding plumes of her white hat, and the knot of deli- 
cate lace at her throat, she had placed some brilliant 
clusters of the mountain ash. In her hand she 
carried a most artistically arranged basket of fruit, 
fringed with autumn leaves and golden-rod. Her 
dress, therefore, was indicative of Autumn, but her 


74 


AMORE. 


hopeful eyes suggested Spring, while through her 
auburn hair the Summer sunshine seemed to linger, 
either imprisoned or loth to go away. Possibly, 
the lines of her face would not have satisfied the 
artist in search of perfectly modeled features, but 
the painter who could have transferred to canvas the 
soulful expression of her eyes, and the sunshine of 
her smile, would have secured a peerless fame. 

“ Such a face and smile surely should be keyed 
to the sweetest voice in the world,” was Philip 
Ward’s mental comment. 

In truth, as Theodora walked towards the door 
through the avenue of over-arching trees, it seemed 
that she might have been the original of the poet’s 
dream of “ Lucile.” But the dream abruptly 
ended, when, a few minutes later, Theodora, upon 
being introduced to Philip Ward, fairly shouted, in 
a most unusual tone, an explanation of absence from 
town as the reason for non-attendance at Church. 

“ What an affliction,” thought Philip, as, clear- 
ing his throat, and making a brave effort to enun- 
ciate clearly, he screamed back his pleasure at 
meeting her. 

Just at that moment an opportune call from a 
neighbor, who must see Delight for a few moments, 


AMORE. 


75 


gave her an excuse for leaving the room, or she 
certainly never could have endured the absurd 
scene another minute. This friend had quite a 
story to tell ; and as Delight endeavored to listen 
patiently, she was almost convulsed with laughter 
as the rasping tone of the two conversers disturbed 
the silence of the evening air. 

“ Really, the joke has gone far enough,” thought 
Delight, “ hut how will I ever explain it ? Iam 
actually afraid that I have trespassed too far on 
Dorian’s good-nature. What if she should be angry ? 
I will never play such a joke again.” 

Just then there was another ring of the door-bell. 
Delight stepped to the door, and was delighted to 
see Mr. Dwight. He stated that a friend of Theo- 
dora’s had arrived from the East, and he had called 
to escort her home. 

As Theodora left the house, Delight said, 
“ Dorian, do you really mean it when you pray 
‘ forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that 
trespass against us ? ’ ” 

“ Why, yes. What a question ? I hope I mean it. 
I supposed I meant it, but what have you been 
doing now ? ” 

“ O Dorian, forgive me, but it was so funny to 


76 


AMOIiE. 


hear you two, genteel, sweet-voiced, well-mannered, 
people, shouting at one another as though you were 
brought up in a mill. The fact is, dear, (and now 
you ought to forgive me through very gratitude 
that it isn’t true,) that somehow you have misunder- 
stood me, and I must confess I did not wear myself 
out in trying to set you right. The ‘ ’pon honor,’ 
truth is, Mr. Ward is not a particle deaf.” 

“ O, Delight, how could you? Yes, I see, with 
your love of a joke you could not do anything 
else ! Mercy, what an impression I must have made ! 
I am half tempted to be cross, but really, Delight, 
it is so funny that I have to laugh.” And the 
merriest laugh that Philip Ward had ever heard, 
fairly rippled through the hall. 

“ Theodora, you are an angel. From henceforth 
I will not call you Dorian, but during half of the 
time at least give you your own name, Theodora. 
Any girl that can laugh at a joke at her own ex- 
pense has the elements of a hero. Good-bye, dear. 
Forgive me, and I will never do so again.” 

“ I wonder if the young parson will be as angelic,” 
was Delight’s somewhat anxious thought, as she re- 
entered the parlor. 

Going up to him, she said in her most bewitching 


AMORE. 


77 


and softest tones, which were unusually grateful 
after the rasping, high voice to which he had been 
listening : 

“ Mr. Ward, as I said to my father this evening, 
on some accounts it is a great misfortune to have 
made mud pies with your minister, for then you 
cannot but regard him as like other men. Do you 
remember when I was at boarding school, that you 
sent me as a philopena-present, two beautiful hya- 
cinth glasses, with the suggestion that the bulbs 
therein needed careful watching and watering, and 
how, after several weeks of care, I anxiously asked 
you why they did not blossom, and you replied by 
asking whether it were possible that the gardener 
had made a mistake and placed young onions in 
the glasses instead of hyacinths ? 

“ Well, I have been waiting for a chance to return 
that little courtesy and repay that little practical 
joke. The opportunity came, and, by the way, what 
do you think of Theodora ? ” 

“ O, I think she is beautiful to look at and, (this 
is an old-time confidence, remember,) if she could 
wed her really bright thoughts to your sweet voice, 
she would be almost angelic.” 

“ Well, the truth is, when you hear her wonder- 


78 


AMOBE. 


fully sweet voice, you will think mine is a fog-horn 
in comparison. That was all a joke. She is engaged 
in all kinds of philanthropic work, and is only deaf 
to all my hints that she would make an ideal wife for 
a minister, hut she is not deaf as to her hearing. 
Please listen calmly, my friend. She is what her 
name implies, an angel or a gift of God, for she for- 
gave me in about a minute, and now, if you are 
worthy to be her pastor, her spiritual guide, you will 
forgive me in one instant.'” 

“ But, Miss Delight, think how perfectly ridic- 
ulous I must have appeared ? I am exceedingly 
annoyed. How could you do such a thing ? ” 

“Well, you evidently are not half as unselfish 
as Theodora, for when I reminded her how thank- 
ful she ought to be, for your sake, that it was not 
true, she forgave me through sheer gratitude, and 
then she laughed, and that proved to me that she 
was, in heart, truly humble. 

“ And now it is my turn to preach a little. It is 
people with a frightful amount of personal pride, 
which they misname dignity, that are so dreadfully 
hurt if anybody smiles at them. 

“ The true hero, the true reformer, is always a per- 
son who can endure being laughed at. I believe 


AMORE. 


79 


it requires more courage to be laughed at by the 
world than to go into a battle. 

“ Theodora is made of that kind of heroic stuff. 
I never admired her so much as I did a few 
months ago, when one of our daily papers appeared 
with some burlesque wood-cuts of her and a 
few other women, who had appealed to the Legis- 
lature in behalf of a bill, giving mothers an equal 
right with fathers to their own children. I knew 
that she was as pure and modest as a wood- 
bird, when she was alone with girls, and I thought 
this unkind attack and disagreeable notoriety 
would kill her, and I hastened to comfort her, to 
laugh her out of it. That is my way. Either God 
sent me into this world to laugh people out of their 
troubles, or else I am an awful mistake. Some- 
times I think I am. However, if I have any flowers 
to give, I prefer that my friends should enjoy them 
while they are alive, rather than at their own 
funerals. 

“I found Theodora looking as sweet and as 
calm in her white linen morning dress, with a 
great dewy rose in her hair, writing a rhyme to meet 
the occasion, as though she had never heard of a 
newspaper. 


80 


AMORE, 


44 During the conversation I asked her where she 
ever found the courage to meet so bravely such 
disagreeable things, and her reply was : 4 It all 
came from a thought, a single seed-thought my 
mother gave me one day. She said to me, “ Theo- 
dora, always remember that there are two classes of 
people in the world, the ignorant and the wise. 
You cannot help being laughed at by one or the 
other. If you are ignorant the wise will laugh at 
you, and if you are wise the foolish will laugh. 
Which class do you choose to march with? ” ’ 

44 Was not that a wise thought? Is it not won- 
derful how much power there is in a thought? 
Really now, after that eloquence, you will forgive 
me, won’t you ? ” 

“ Well, in view of that old matter about the 
onions, I suppose that I must; but really, Miss 
Delight, do you not think it your duty to curb 
your intense love of a joke. However, please ex- 
plain this matter to Miss Dwight at your earliest 
convenience. Good-night ! ” 

44 Where is my diary ? I must make an entry 
as speedily as possible,” soliloquized Delight, as 
she hastened to her room. And this is what she 
wrote : 


AMOBE. 


81 


“ Because of his gentlemanly behavior under 
what was really a saucy provocation, Philip W ard 
has made a perceptible ascent in my estimation. 
In fact, he has arrived very close to the summit of 
the height where my small group of heroes are 
stationed.” 


6 


82 


AMORE. 


CHAPTER VII. 

THE TRIANGLE CLUB. 


“ When I wuz younger’ n wilt you see me now, 

Nothin’, from Adam’s fall toHuldy’s bonnet, 

That I warn’t ready with my judgment on it ; 

But now I’m giftin' on in life, I find 
It’s a sight harder to make up my mind, 

Now I don’t often try ter, when events 
Will du it for me free of all expense. 

The moral question’s olus plain enough, 

It’s just the human-nature side that’s tough. 

Wut’s best to think, mayn’t puzzle me nor you, 

The pinch comes, in decidin’ wut to du.” 

“ Be He nowhere else, 
God is in all that liberates and lifts, 

In all that strengthens, sweetens and consoles.” 

Lowell. 

One of the most difficult attainments, for pa- 
rents, is the realization of the rapid growth and 
development of their own children, and the com- 
prehension of the fact that these children (mere 
babies hut a few years ago) are actually as old, 


AMORE. 


83 


and are thinking the same thoughts, disturbed by 
the same doubts and inspired by the same aspira- 
tions and truths as were their parents at the same 
age. For instance, many a father who at the mature 
age of twenty-one (as it appeared to him at the 
time) thought the prospective father-in-law ex- 
tremely unkind, when he insisted that his daughter 
could not he married until she had at least cele- 
brated her eighteenth birthday, has allowed him- 
self to be thrown into a passion at the audacity 
of a young man asking the privilege of escorting 
his eighteen-year-old-daughter to opera or ffite 
without a chaperone. 

And how many persons, brilliant beaux and belles 
of the ball-room, in youth, being now disabled by 
gout or rheumatism, suddenly develop conscien- 
tious scruples against dancing, which they rigidly 
enforce against all their descendants. 

Most difficult, however, does it seem to be, for 
the very clergymen who in their youth entered the 
more progressive ranks of the so-called modern 
reform churches, to turn from the theological de- 
ductions and conclusions of the last generation and 
recognize any new beams of light in the fresher, 
more advanced, thought of to-day. To the inspiring 


84 


AMOBE. 


fact, that aspiring souls have learned, through the 
spectrum of science and faith, that the light of love 
illumines all the worlds of this marvellous universe, 
they persist in closing their eyes. Yet the very 
pride of their hearts consists in the fact, that when 
they were young, they were brave enough to follow 
the standard of Truth, into what were then the 
radical, unpopular and dangerous paths of Method- 
ism, Abolitionism, Unitarianism, or some other 
ism which was then unpopular. 

Men who dared to express their disbelief in 
witchcraft, duelling, the persecution of the Quakers, 
or the eternal punishment of unbaptized infants 
and children, turn from the trusting, loving 
hearts who to-day claim that in a universe created 
and sustained and controlled by an all-powerful 
Spirit of Wisdom and Love, there can be no eternal 
mistake, no incurable evil, no total depravity. They 
fail to see that as the day-star of Truth rises higher 
and higher, it reveals an ever-widening landscape 
and greater opportunities for the soulful eyes and 
reverent hearts, which in loving worship continue 
to repeat the truest prayer of all the ages, “ Thy 
will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” 

If this be true in regard to recreation and morals, 


AMOEE. 


85 


how much more difficult is it for persons who were 
students half a century since to realize the progres- 
sive steps taken along scientific and spiritual lines, 
if one may designate by two terms what should 
always be comprehended as one ; since all true 
spiritual processes are always scientific, while all 
true science rests upon a spiritual basis. 

Dr. Fiske, in a little book entitled “ The idea of 
God as affected by modern knowledge,” makes a 
most suggestive statement when he says : 

“ This century, which some have called an age 
of iron, has also been an age of ideas, an era of 
seeking and finding, the like of which has never 
been known before. It is an epoch, the grandeur 
of which dwarfs all others that can be named since 
the beginning of the historic period. In their 
mental habits, in their methods of inquiry, and in 
the data at their command, the men of the present 
day, who have fully kept pace with the scientific 
movements, are separated from the men whose 
education ended in 1830, by an immeasurably wider 
gulf than has ever before divided one progressive 
generation from its predecessors. 

“ The intellectual development of the human 
race has been suddenly, almost abruptly, raised to 


86 


AMORE. 


a higher plane than that upon which it has pro- 
ceeded, from the age of the primitive troglodyte to 
the days of our great-grandfathers.” 

In no class of people is the truth of spiritual prog- 
ress more manifest than in certain young men and 
women, whose native, intuitional powers have not 
been suppressed, but sacredly cherished and de- 
veloped by wise fathers and mothers. 

This age has not yet known many such parents, 
hence 'such children are rare, but nevertheless some 
such are living amongst us to-day, and the group 
which we are endeavoring to photograph consists 
not of ideal but real young men and women. 

Some of them are children of the mothers who, 
upon being forbidden by the church to speak or to 
pray in public, were thereby emancipated from their 
former soul-slavery to the pulpit, were saved from 
the narrowing tendencies of the theological semi- 
naries, and were left free to study the unchained 
Bible of Nature, and the self-revelation of the 
individual soul ; children of parents who have 
braved much to know the truth, which has 
made them free. It has made them free as 
air, to see and know and in-breathe the inspiring 
truths that “ God is love,” that spirit cannot die, 


AMOEE. 


87 


and that “ the kingdom of Heaven is within,” and 
their search for truth has been so brave and true 
that they have been guided into such wise action 
as Mr. Emerson suggested when he wrote : 

“ Don’t hang a dismal picture on the wall, and 
do not daub with sables and glooms in your con- 
versation. Don’t be a cynic and disconsolate 
preacher. Don’t bewail and bemoan. Omit the 
negative propositions; nerve us with incessant 
affirmatives. Don’t waste yourself in dejection, 
nor bark against the bad, but chant the beauty of 
the good.” 

The Dwight homestead was a veritable Mecca to 
all such brave souls, being a counterpart in that 
respect of the home of James and Lucre tia Mott, of 
which Mrs. Stanton says, “ In their home, Freedom 
was not a deity to be worshipped afar off, but was 
the patron saint of the household.” 

The in-dwelling peace, harmony and indigenous 
hospitality of this individualized home, seemed to 
be recognized by everyone who crossed the thresh- 
old, emphasized no doubt by the graceful legend 
carved upon the front door, “ Who enters here 
leave care behind.” 

To the library had been given an individuality 


88 


AMORE. 


as marked as that of the interesting host and hos- 
tess. It was a large room with windows every- 
where, at least everywhere that room could be 
yielded for one. Windows between the book- 
cases, a large window, with most comfortable broad 
seats, behind the broad chimney, and stained-glass 
windows above the bookcases. About the del- 
icately tinted ceiling an ivy of luxuriant growth 
had been gracefully trained, while upon the quaint 
old clock in the corner was inscribed, 

“ God’s in his Heaven, all’s right with the 
world.” 

Above the central bookcase was artistically 
carved, 

“ Know the truth and the truth shall make you 
free.” 

While above the alcove, containing a rare col- 
lection of Bibles and other sacred books, of many 
nations, was inscribed the significant sugges- 
tion, 

“ Prove all things, hold fast that which is 
good.” 

Above a third alcove,, which was Theodora’s 
special property, and in which was a most interest- 
ing collection of the biographies of eminent men 


AMOBE. 


89 


and women, hung a beautiful velvet draping, upon 
which was daintily embroidered in rustic lettering, 
Lucretia Mott’s favorite motto, 

“ Truth for authority, not authority for truth.” 

The draperies were soft, and fell in graceful lines, 
being flecked with most harmonious tints ; while 
flowers, artistically arranged, were everywhere. 

Upon the evening when we have decided to in- 
troduce you to this home shrine, Theodora has 
departed from her usual costume of white, and wears 
(“ to suit Aunt Maria,” as she explains to the ques- 
tioning girls) a dress of rose-pink, with fragrant 
clusters of apple-blossoms at her throat and belt. 

Earle O’Neal is strikingly handsome, in her 
gown of old-gold cashmere, trimmed with a Persian 
border, while necklace and bracelets of Etruscan 
gold give quite an oriental touch to her unusually 
becoming toilette. 

Delight Friskehad, as usual, “ brought down the 
house,” when, upon entering the room and greet- 
ing Earle O’Neal, she exclaimed, “ Mirabile ! Earle 
you look like the goddess Ceres this evening, 
while I, alas, with this flimsy, corn-colored dress, 
which the dew has rendered entirely guiltless of 
starch, and my corn-silk kind of hair, that never was 


90 


AMORE. 


known to crimp, resemble a poor little roasting- 
ear. But then — turning with a perfect witchery 
of manner to Rev. Philip Ward, — she said every- 
body likes corn, you know.” 

“Yes, indeed,” said Philip, “and that reminds 
me, ‘ he that hath ears to hear, let him hear,’ so do 
you please listen to-night and not distract me with 
your side remarks and witticisms, as you did the 
last time that this famous club met here. But, 
one question, please, before the House is called to 
order. How did it happen that you were ever 
elected a member of this most transcendental and 
philosophic club ? ” 

“ For the same reason that another minister gave 
when he explained that ‘ he called at our home so 
frequently, because it rested his brain so.’ And 
then it is but another illustration of the principle 
of the ‘ survival of the fittest ’ and ‘ the theory of 
natural selection.’ But, to change the subject, 
doesn’t Theodora look angelic this evening?” 

“ Yes, she is very pretty, almost beautiful, but 
Miss Earle O’Neal is strikingly handsome ; what 
a magnificent creature she is.” 

“ 0, heavens ! Excuse me, excuse me; exclaimed 
Delight, but what is the reason that men never com- 


AM011E. 


91 


prehend truly noble women. Are you going to 
follow the example of almost every gentleman that 
meets Earle O’Neal, and be bewitched by her 
physical charms, and you a minister ? A minister 
ought to marry an angel if he could find one.” 

“ Yes, I suppose so, but then think how fear- 
fully mis-mated the angel would be.” 

“ Yes, you remember the wise statement of Mrs. 
Poyser , 4 Heaven knows the women are foolish, God 
made them so to match the men.’ ” 

We turn aside rather reluctantly from this 
badinage to make some further statement about 
this locally famous organization. 

The Triangle Club, originally consisted of the 
three young women, Theodora, Earle and Delight, 
— a trio so dissimilar in tastes, methods and ap- 
pearance, that their friendship had been an annoy- 
ing enigma to their mutual friends, who vainly en- 
deavored to see any points of agreement. But 
they served as a most beautiful illustration of the 
divine law of harmony in difference, to those who 
apprehend the unity of spiritual law. 

Into this charmed circle Robert O’Neal was re- 
ceived, because the young ladies recognized him 
as an encyclopaedia of information, and because an 


92 


AMO RE. 


escort was also very essential, while he in turn 
insisted that his “ chum,” Morton Harris, a young 
physician and scientist, should be admitted in 
order to assist him in his varied duties. Quite 
recently, Delight Friske had announced her deep 
conviction that with the legal and medical pro- 
fessions being thus honored, the clergy should be 
recognized, and as a result, upon this evening Rev. 
Philip Ward was to be initiated into the little 
circle. 

Members of the club alternated in presiding at 
its councils, and as Robert O’Neal, whose duty it 
was, took the chair, he quite surprised the mem- 
bership by saying, “ During the interim since our 
last meeting it has occurred to me that the time 
has arrived for this influential club to decide upon 
a badge, a cultus, and propaganda. Consequently, 
I have resolved myself into a committee of the 
whole and hereby appoint you, Miss Earle, to re- 
present the cultus, Theodora, with your enthusiasm 
and persuasiveness you cannot help being a prop- 
aganda, while it remains for me, alas, after the 
manner of my down-trodden and oppressed brethren 
in this degenerate age of woman’s supremacy, to 
merely supply the materialistic badges of office, 


AMORE . 


93 


which I hereby present, if you will accept, the 
insignia.” 

As he concluded this unusually long sentence 
(he being noted for his laconic speech) Robert 
O’Neal opened a small box, from which he took 
three exquisite triangle pins, which he had de- 
signed, as badges of the three-cornered friendship, 
or the friendship existing between this trio of 
young persons so strangely dissimilar in thought, 
method, and purpose. 

“ There, there, girls, don’t say another word, 
because the diamonds may prove to be paste yet. 
In fact I bought them in self-defence, as a peace 
offering, as I have disobeyed every rule and broken 
every law of the 4 order,’ and invited Hugh Dins- 
more, an eccentric, scientific, pessimistic friend of 
mine, to attend the club to-night.” 

44 Oh, Robert ! and I am to give the paper ; I 
who never was accused of being scientific in my 
life, who can’t even run a sewing machine, and am 
nothing if not optimistic. How dreadful ! What 
a pleasure is in store for him,” exclaimed Theodora. 

44 Now do not worry at all. Abide by the phi- 
losophy of your higher moods; and insist that 
4 All things work together for good.’ ” 


94 


AMOIIE. 


44 Who is he, and where does he come from ? ” 
questioned Earle O’Neal. 

“ Oh, he is an old school-mate of mine. His 
father died and left him a large fortune, and he 
has been in India several years, where he has had 
the pleasure of meeting with a small coterie of 
scientists and philosophers, and while, as I have 
said, he seems to be rather pessimistic, yet he will 
doubtless be able to throw some light upon the 
questions that will naturally be presented by the 
‘ paper ’ and subsequent discussion. As we also 
gladly receive into our club this evening a mem- 
ber of the clerical profession, it will doubtless be 
well for me to remind each and all of the motto 
we have agreed to accept : 4 In essentials unity ; 
in non-essentials liberty; in all things charity.’ 
Our subject this evening is a glimpse at the 
underlying philosophy of some modern books, and 
as a basis for discussion, Miss Dwight or 4 Theo- 
dora,’ since in this charmed circle we lay aside the 
conventionalities, will read a paper upon the same.” 

The paper presented by 44 Theodora,” although 
brief, contained the essence of a philosophy which 
was the result of much brave, earnest thought, as 
well as patient research and heroic action. The 


AMORE. 


95 


basic prayer of her life had been for guidance 
into truth, and in loyal obedience to the dictates 
of conscience she had suffered more, in her ex- 
tremely sensitive nature, than even her nearest 
and dearest had ever imagined. 

As a result of her faithful seeking, a beam of 
light had reached her, which glorified life, and in 
exalted moments, or in her vision hours, made her 
realize that 44 the kingdom of heaven was within.” 
And yet the truth apprehended seemed to har- 
monize the different elements of her many-sided 
nature. To her friends she was not a saint, and 
truly not a sinner, but just a joyous-hearted, sun- 
shiny girl, possessed of rare intellectual gifts. 

As Theodora commenced reading there was a mo- 
ment of painful self-consciousness (which the world 
often misnames modesty) and a most becoming 
blush added a deeper tinge to her cheeks. But in 
a moment the importance of her subject possessed 
her, and with a clear, self-controlled voice, she 
submitted the following thoughts : 

44 The primal object of this little club being the 
discovery of truth, it seems scarcely necessary for 
me to emphasize my request for the most un- 
trammelled criticism, or to assure you that the 


90 


AMORK 


greatest service you can render, will be to reveal 
to me every weak point or flaw in the argument 
presented. 

“ The thought I would suggest is to the effect 
that the class of books best illustrated by 
‘Robert Elsmere,’ ‘The African Farm,’ etc., 
leave the mind of the reader in a dissatisfied, 
disappointed, and, I may add, often a very de- 
pressed state; since, while it is true that, with 
some strong arguments they assail many super- 
stitions and much dogma, they do not replace 
or rebuild upon their ruins any well constructed 
philosophy or system of ethics. 

“ These books disclose to us, in a subtle manner, 
what many of George Eliot’s greatest literary and 
artistic creations do, a strong under-current of dis- 
content and restlessness, and the absence of any 
soul-satisfying philosophy. One has an uncom- 
fortable sense of dragging an anchor. Their 
authors do not appear to have brought the prob- 
lem of life to a happy or hopeful solution. They 
fail to recognize the hope-illuminated principle 
accepted or comprehended by the world’s greatest 
philosophers, poets, seers, and prophets, that evil 
is negative, while love is positive ; that love is sun- 


AMORE. 


97 


shine, hate is shadow, and that the devil is a liar 
from the beginning. 

“ Each atom of the universe is ensphered in 
the Spirit of Love, and those who see with the 
love-illumined eyes of our own Whittier can with 
him declare : 

* Above, below, in sky and sod, 

In leaf and spar, in star and man, 

Well might the wise Athenian scan, 

The geometric signs of God, 

The measured order of his plan. 

‘ So welcome I from every source, 

The tokens of that primal force, 

Older than heaven itself, yet new 
As the young heart it reaches to. 

» 

‘ Beneath whose steady impulse rolls, 

The tidal wave of human souls ; 

Guide, comforter, and inward word, 

The Eternal Spirit of the Lord.’ 

“ Or let us scale a still greater height with Em- 
erson, and listen to his reassuring tones as he 
asserts : 


‘ Thou seek’st in globe and galaxy, 

He hides in pure transparency ; 

Thou askest in fountains and in fires, 
He is the essence that inquires. 

He is the axis of the star ; 

He is the sparkle of the spar ; 

7 


98 


AM011E. 


He is the heart of every creature ; 

He is the meaning of each feature ; 

And His mind is the sky, 

Than all it holds more deep, more high.’ 

“You have wisely protected yourselves, good 
friends, by the limitations placed upon the length 
of this paper, hence I pause to quote but a few 
thoughts from the thinkers of all ages upon this 
vitally important subject. 

“ One of the recognized leaders of theological 
statement, St. Augustine, has bequeathed to us 
this record of his conclusions : 

“ 4 And I sought whence is evil ; I set before the 
eye of my spirit the whole creation ; whatsoever 
we see therein, sea, earth, air, stars, trees, moral 
creatures — yea, whatsoever there is we do not see 
— angels and spiritual powers. Where is evil and 
whence comes it, since God, the good, hath 
created all things ? Why made he anything at all 
of evil, and not rather by His almightiness caused 
it not to he? These thoughts I turned in my 
miserable heart overcharged with most gnawing 
cares. And, admonished to return to myself, I 
entered even into my inmost soul, Thou being my 
guide, and beheld even beyond my soul and mind 
the Light unchangeable. He who knows the 


AMORE. 


99 


Truth, knows what the Light is, and he who 
knows it, knows Eternity.’ 

“ 4 Oh Truth, who art Eternity ! Love, who art 
Truth ! Eternity, who art Love ! And I heheld 
that Thou madest all things good, and to Thee is 
nothing whatsoever evil. From the angel to the 
worm, from the first motion to the last, Thou 
settest each in its place, and everything is good in 
its kind.' 

“We become in character like the God we 
worship, and is it not also true, that as soon as we 
lose faith in divinely spiritual powers, we are at 
once dispossessed of the ability to arouse, enthuse 
or electrify hearers or readers. To quote from 
one of our youngest poets, Richard Realf : 

“ ‘ Back of the canvas that throbs, 

The painter is hinted and hidden ; 

Into the statue that breathes, 

The soul of the sculptor is bidden. 

And up from the pits where these shiver, 

And up from the heights where those shine, 

Twin voices and shadows swim starward : 

The essence of life is divine.’ 

“ Again the power of a book is not so much in its 
plot or artistic construction, as in the spirit of the 
writer. 


100 


AMO RE. 


“ The great artist, the true poet, is always con- 
scious of the miracle in nature, the divinity of life, 
and is ever a seer of visions, a dreamer of dreams. 
And if you will allow me to make yet another 
addition to what you perceive is but little more 
than a compilation, I will quote some of the in- 
spiring sentences of Rose Cleveland : 

Joan of Arc saved France indeed, and raised 
the siege of Orleans ; but this is not all of her 
immortality. She has entered as a spiritual force 
into the inheritance of the ages, and become a 
practical influence in human lives. If you and I 
are not actually helped by this influence, it is our 
own fault, not hers. 

“‘For each of us there awaits an Orleans. Some 
time that crisis-battle must be fought, which gives 
us final victory. In that long siege which precedes 
that crisis-battle, we need the faith of Joan ; that 
faith which ranges the soul on the side of the con- 
quering powers, and enlists it in a service which 
is sure to win. And we need to see our visions, 
to hear our voices, as Joan, hers; those, visions 
which open to us from the summits of our holiest 
resolve, our highest endeavor ; our most painful 
abnegation ; those voices which lay on us most 


AMORE. 


101 


strenuous commands and whisper to us, in secret 
chambers of our beleaguered souls, words of con- 
viction, of courage, and of cheer. God grant that 
we be not unresponsive to that angel voice, that 
we be not disobedient upon the heavenly vision.’ 

44 Be sure that one who would exclude the 
marvellous from our lives is too deaf and blind to 
the daily and hourly miracle enfolding us, to prove 
an illuminated guide or instructor of the people. 

“Did not England fail to recognize Words- 
worth as a true poet until his 4 Ode to Immor- 
tality ’ revealed the illuminated spirit ? 

44 Tennyson became a household word when 
from the dark mine of sorrow he coined the glit- 
tering gem of Truth, 4 that good shall be the final 
aim of ill.’ The Poet-Laureate dreamed his 
dreams and studied his inspiring visions, before 
he gave us this hopeful philosophy of In Memo - 
riam. 

44 Elizabeth Barrett Browning, with Christ-like 
eyes , 4 first saw that 44 Marian Earle ” was beautiful,’ 
when with clear, loving vision she comprehended 
that motherhood, cruel although it had seemed, 
was a divine compensation. 

44 Shakespeare’s divinest glimpse was at the mo- 


102 


AMORE . 


ment when Mercy stood revealed. 4 The mightiest 
in the mightiest, becoming the throned monarch 
better than his crown.’ 

44 Robert Browning went the whole round of 
creation to learn, 4 That all’s love, yet all’s law.’ 

44 George Eliot at last caught an immortal strain 
4 from the great choir invisible.’ 

44 The apostle Paul in his vision-hour exclaimed, 
4 The greatest of these is Charity’ ; while Jesus of 
Nazareth performed his greatest miracle when he 
voiced with divine intonation to a hitherto doubt- 
ing and timid world that trinity of words 4 God is 
Love.’ 

44 The thought we would emphasize is this. 
The great books, the great pictures, the accepted 
philosophy of the future, will be optimistic, and 
will recognize the fact of a Spirit of Love, 

4 Without halting, without rest, 

Lifting better up to best.’ 

as the only key that solves the great mystery of 
existence, and makes life worth living.” 

As Theodora ceased reading, so illumined was 
her face by the reflections from her inner vision, 
so vibrant was her voice with the echoes of Truth, 
that the slight sneer faded from the face of the 


AMORE. 


103 


young scientist, and Rev. Philip Ward’s face was 
a strange blending of admiration and pain. 

Earle O’Neal was the first to break the silence, 
as she eagerly said : 

44 But, Theodora, what do you do with all the 
ghastly wickedness, selfishness, suffering and crime 
of the world ? I fear you are becoming dreamily 
transcendental. I wish you could have gone with 
me to my dressmaker’s this afternoon. It is in a 
wretched locality, and I was simply horrified ; and 
as I was coming home, I met the Rev. Mr. Bur- 
rows (you must admit that he is a good man), and 
I had never seen him so careworn and depressed. 

“ He had been visiting the saloons in search of 
facts for his annual temperance sermon, and to my 
intense surprise he said, with a great deal of re- 
pressed bitterness in his voice ; 4 Miss Earle, when 
I am confronted by such scenes as I have wit- 
nessed this afternoon, I must admit that I am glad 
that I am not God.’ ” 

44 O ! Earle,” she replied, 44 think of a man with a 
philosophy like that, occupying the place of a great 
spiritual teacher ! The trouble is, he was investi- 
gating the results of things, the results of intem- 
perance, instead of the causes, and he ended where 


104 


AMORE. 


all. do who base their conclusions upon false pre- 
mises. He ended by hating God, instead of appre- 
hending that it is our failure to recognize God in 
our brother and the consequent divinity of man, 
that has made us so indifferent to his needs. 

“ What I mean, Earle, is this : A man goes into 
saloons and other places where the untaught and 
ignorant congregate, and studies the results of our 
own ignorant methods of dealing with the masses, 
and concludes, judging by these results, that man 
is totally depraved, a rebel against God, conse- 
quently deserving of, some say, eternal punish- 
ment. Now let that same person, the Rev. Mr. 
Burrows, if you please, study means of prevention 
and of reparation, visit a Foundlings’ Home, or 
an Erring Woman’s Refuge, and study the sweet 
baby faces he will see there. Let those children 
be cared for and instructed by wise and loving 
kindergarten teachers, supplied with tools, books, 
amusements ; surrounded by woods, water, birds 
and flowers, and then see if he doe§ not recognize 
that what he has thought to be total depravity was 
only ignorance. Again, men rebel bitterly against 
the conditions surrounding them, because of their 
belief that this one short period of earth-life is to 


AMORE. 


105 


be their only chance. The little boys at school are 
not rendered bitter and hostile towards the larger 
boys when they fully comprehend that they in turn 
will occupy the same position, enjoy similar 
advantages. 

“ I do not think we can even imagine how the 
cloud will lift from the now burdened heart of 
humanity when the great, inspiring truth is taught 
that every spirit, undeveloped though it may be at 
present, is on its way to unfoldraent, opportunity, 
angel-hood. 

“ So long as our brothers seem to us totally de- 
praved, we cannot love them as we ought, and 
until we understand the one great law of love, we 
cannot overcome the gross ignorance of the world.” 

“ W ell, well, what a philosopher we have among 
us. Theodora, you surprise me, almost overwhelm 
me with your — excuse me, but I cannot resist 
your theosophic conclusions, exclaimed Delight 
Friske. 

Mr. Dinsmore, leaning forward, said most 
eagerly : “ I understand, Miss Dwight, that your 
philosophy includes a belief in an omnipresent 
Spirit of Love, also continuous life or lives after 
this, including, as I apprehend, an acceptance of 


106 


AMORE. 


the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, as 
taught by the poets and philosophers from whom 
you have quoted, with rare and unusual discrim- 
ination for one so young. Have I understood 
you?” 

Scarcely pausing for Theodora’s nod of assent, 
Mr. Dinsmore continued: “While I would give 
twenty years of life to be convinced that your 
beautiful hope is well founded, and I assure you 
that it gives me actual pain to destroy it, yet my 
love for the truth obliges me to state that recent 
demonstrable facts of Science seem to prove its 
falsity. Some of our greatest scientists are con- 
fident that they have actually located the different 
brain-cells of memory, hope, judgment, etc., and 
that such brain-cells actually constitute these facul- 
ties, which, if true, would prove that death and the 
consequent disintegration of the body, destroys 
memory, hope, etc., which of course means an end 
to individuality. Yes ; immortality in the light 
of recent scientific investigations, seems to be 
forever disproved.” 

And thereupon Mr. Dinsmore scrutinized his 
hearers as if he were trying to observe the effect of 
Iiis statements. Meanwhile, Delight, in a startled 


AMORE. 


107 


whisper, said to Philip Ward: “Do look at 
Theodora. What is happening to her. She seems 
to be almost transfigured, — see, she actually seems 
to have grown taller. My ! she looks like Aspasia 
might, or Hypatia.” 

“ Nonsense, Delight, such freaks of imagination 
as you do have ! She is only unusually ex- 
cited.” 

It was not so much excitement, however, as the 
electric power of Truth which radiated from Theo- 
dora, as she replied in tones through which 
seemed to echo the experience of the centuries — 

“ Mr. Dinsmore, you courteously intimate that I 
am young, and, if you will pardon the personality, 
I will admit that at times I seem to myself as 
young, as immature and inexperienced as a Spring 
morning, at other times as old as the Sphinx. 
This is one of the moments when I feel old, for I 
speak to you from a strange, a singularly strange 
experience for one of my age. Ever since I was 
quite a little girl, I have been sent for, to talk to 
or sing for the sick and the dying. I have been 
at many, so-called, death-bed scenes. I have seen 
old men, whose brains were, as you say, dead, or 
perfectly paralyzed. For days the body seemed 


108 


AMOBE. 


perfectly unconscious. It was dying — soon would 
be dead. These scientific physicians told us these 
brain cells of 4 hope,’ 4 memory,’ 4 imagination ’ 
and 4 love ’ were dying, soon would be dead, when, 
lo ! just at the moment when they were said to be 
dead, their mission ended, a strange, new light 
illuminated the eyes and faces. Memory, instead 
of being dead or dying, was never more alive, re- 
vealing apparently forgotten things. The strength- 
ened judgment was evinced in words of wise 
admonition. The ears were attuned to higher 
vibrations and heard celestial harmonies. The 
hitherto paralyzed and blinded eyes distinctly 
recognized the inhabitants of two worlds, while 
even the voices, supposed to be weak in death, in 
clearest tones sang hymns of joy. All of which 
convinces me that if the Scientists do prove that 
the physical memory, sight and hearing die, then 
we have two memories, two forms of sight, two 
ways of hearing and two bodies, both of which are 
instruments of the immortal, indestructible, death- 
less spirit, whose essence, atmosphere and life is 
love.” 

44 Excuse me, Miss Dwight, if I intimate that 
you argue like many other women, from a pre- 


AMOUR 


109 


formed conclusion back to a cause. You say you 
know, therefore you conclude.” 

“ But is not one actual experience worth more 
than numberless theories ? ” 

“Yes, I think so,” interposed Delight, “and at 
this moment I would rather experience one cup 
of that fragrant coffee than to listen to a National 
Cook-Book of recipes for making of it, and I think 
a good many of my brain cells are hermetically 
sealed, I am so stupid in regard to philosophy. 
I prefer to have my pastor do my thinking for me ; 
so please realize what a load of responsibility you 
bear, Mr. Ward.” 

“ Please do not add to my burdens in that line, 
which at times seem unbearable. If you are un- 
willing, or find it wearisome to do the thinking for 
one, you surely sympathize with a pastor who is 
expected to think for a hundred people.” 

Serving of refreshments changed the current of 
the conversation, then music was introduced, after 
which Robert O’Neal suggested that the remaining 
hours be occupied by the guest of the evening, Mr. 
Dinsmore, in descriptions of his journeyings in the 
Orient; which suggestion being acted upon, further 


110 


AMORE. 


discussion of Theodora’s paper was postponed to a 
subsequent meeting. 

44 Truly men are worse than conundrums. They 
insist that woman is an enigma, but if there is a 
harder conundrum in this world than a man, I will 
give it up.” 

“What are you soliloquizing about now, De- 
light?” 

“ Oh, about men. Why is it that they never 
understand women. Why is it, Theodora? Now 
it seems to me that the fact would be obvious to a 
blind man, and make itself understood by a deaf 
one, that if ever two persons were intended for 
each other , 4 your ain sweet sel’ ’ and his reverence, 
4 Philip,’ are the very ones. And yet he actually 
seems exceedingly interested in Earle, who says 
she has made up her mind to marry a fortune and 
queen it in the social world. Queer reign she 
would have as the wife of a village clergyman, — 
but here I am again being run away with by my 
unbridled tongue, — and Robert is waiting below — 
Good-night. Had a horrid time, of course.” 

The guests had gone. The lights were out, and 
yet Theodora sat by the open window. It was 
a glorious, star-lit night. The air was redolent 


AMORE. 


Ill 


with the breath of apple blossoms, and yet the 
young woman’s heart was heavy, and somehow she 
felt that a shadow had overtaken the sunshine of 
her singularly glad, young life, for as he bade her 
good-night, Philip Ward, with a tone of suppressed 
severity in his voice, said to her, Miss Theodora, 
one of the greatest trials which a minister has to 
bear is the knowledge that so many bright young 
men and women are being led astray by the the- 
osophical doctrines of re-embodiment and the 
Christian Science dogma, that sin or evil is only 
ignorance. I noted your paper very carefully and 
read a great deal between the lines. It is a danger- 
ous doctrine. What do you do with the Bible 
when you discard a belief in the devil ? ” 

“ Pardon me, if I reply to your question by asking 
another. When you teach the doctrine of an 
omnipresent God, or an omnipresent Spirit of 
Love, where do you find room for a devil ? ” 

“ Your question involves quite a lengthy argu- 
ment, which I will ask time to discuss with you 
during some evening of next week. Meanwhile, 
let us pray earnestly for light.” 

Being misunderstood ; this was the shadow from 
which Theodora’s heartache was born. And yet, 


112 


AMORE. 


had she attained to clearer vision, she would have 
known that behind the cloud the real sun of truth 
was shining, only to be revealed in greater beauty 
and brilliancy when the obscuring mists had passed 
away. 

Even now a beam reached her shadowed heart, 
and in a few moments she arose, and looking steadily 
up into the star-lit space, said : “Spirit of Love and 
of Truth, thou hast revealed to me that all things 
work together for good. I will not be impatient 
if some of my dear ones have not reached the same 
point of vision. I know that I am not alone. Love 
is its own reward. Make me strong to say 4 Thy 
will be done, ’and wise to know that from Thy divine 
nature Thou canst only grant me what is good.” 

Theodora had risen to one of the spiritual heights 
where it is heaven to be, and yet where it is also 
difficult for our earth-bound souls to remain. Was 
this her 44 higher self,” and was it the other half 
of her truly dual nature which murmured, just as 
she passed to unconsciousness in that miracle we 
call sleep: 44 Nevertheless, I know that Philip 
Ward is the only man I can ever truly love. The 
All-Good helping me, I can live this earth-life alone, 
if it is for his good, and find a solemn joy in guard- 


AMOEE. 


113 


ing sacredly the love which, sometime, somewhere, 
he will surely claim, for I know that we belong to 
each other, and that the angel of his own higher 
nature is still asleep. Who can tell whether in 
accordance with the universal unfoldment of the 
good it will require the gentle touch of Love or 
the mailed hand of experience to awaken and 
arouse him ? ” 


8 


114 


AMORE. 


CHAPTER VIII. 

CAROLINE DWIGHT’S HOME-MAKING. 

“ One may commune with God through the bread and wine, 
emblems of the body that was broken and the blood that was 
shed in the cause of truth ; another may commune through the 
moss and the violet, the mountain, the ocean, or the Scrip- 
ture of the Suns which God has WTit in the sky. 

“ Its temple is all space ; its shrine the good heart; its creed, 
all truth ; its ritual, works of love and utility ; its profession 
of faith, a divine life.” 

Theodore Parker. 

One of the most inspiring facts of history is the 
almost limitless amount of good influences that 
may be set in motion by one loving spirit, when 
permeated by a buoyant, masterful faith in God, 
“ faith in self, faith in humanity, and a will to come 
to the rescue.” 

When such a spirit is that of a woman, harbored 
within the blessed boundaries of an harmonious 
home, the fact becomes an inspiration, indicating as 
it does the almost limitless usefulness possible to 
all. Lucre tia Mott coming from the island home 


AMORE. 


115 


of her widowed mother; Abraham Lincoln from 
“ the cabin in the clearings,” Lucy Larcom from her 
factory loom, each and all illustrate the superiority 
of the spirit over its environments, and that the only 
weapon of much importance is this loving will to 
come to the rescue. 

Into such an influence Caroline Dwight had 
developed and those who knew the history of her 
home-making rejoiced that she was the mistress 
of “ Sunnie Brae,” for the home and the home- 
maker were inter-dependent. 

To her the sacred profession of home-making, to 
which housekeeping was incidental, was second 
to none, and she never lost an opportunity of 
emphasizing her belief that domestic science should 
rank among the most dignified of professions, and 
that women should eliminate the word “ servant” 
from their vocabularies just as men have from 
theirs. And more than once we have heard her 
ask a friend, “ what would we think of our husbands 
if a group of them should come together to dis- 
cuss their 4 servants.’ ” Men advertise for coach- 
men, for office-boys, messenger-boys, etc., but 
seldom for ‘ servants.’ 

As a result of her optimistic philosophy, coupled 


116 


AMORE. 


with the sympathetic co-operation of her husband 
and daughter, Mrs. Dwight had succeeded in cre- 
ating an almost ideal home. We have already 
observed some of the interior arrangements and 
appointments on the evening of the meeting of the 
“ Triangle Club,” and to day we invite you into 
the beautiful grounds. 

Please accept this picture, not as an attempted 
etching of an ideal “study,” but as an actual 
copy from life ; such a home as one would naturally 
select as the shrine of a heroine ; such a home as 
every village and neighborhood needs, and which 
in the near future it will be the beautiful life-work 
of many women to create. 

As we attempt to describe it, we are overtaken 
by a strange sense of helplessness, since who may 
hope to portray harmony, color and odor ; the sym- 
bolic mystery of sunshine and shade ; acres of 
billowy, wavy grass, starred all through with pink 
and white clover blossoms, bowers of fragrant 
lilacs, a tangle of acacias, rosy as a fragment of a 
southern sunset ; roses, roses and lilies a wealth 
of color and fragrance, such as those who have 
never lived in some parts of southern Indiana 
cannot imagine ; no, not e’en our dear California 


AMORE. 


117 


friends, since the wondrous blossoms of that pic- 
turesque State are not so freighted with fragrance. 

And then there was the honeysuckle : such 
sprays of coral and yellow, wooed by their hum- 
ming-bird lovers, so fairylike that a single one, 
perfectly represented on canvas, would surely 
secure a coveted title to any artist aspirant. 

Out on the lawn were long tables, fringed, orna- 
mented and garlanded with roses and acacia, and 
weighted with dishes of such strawberries as it 
seems to our memory never ripened elsewhere 
than at “Sunnie Brae.” While fairer, gladder, 
more beautiful than the flowers or the rosy 
fruitage, were the children, for this was to them 
the merriest day of all the year, as it was the 
annual strawberry festival given by Mrs. Dwight 
to the children who during the year had attended 
her Sabbath afternoon re-unions, or her home- 
mission school. 

And this was literally a home-mission school, 
since it was held in the large drawing-room (left 
uncarpeted for this purpose) and in the library 
of her own home. 

In order to secure as much land as he desired 
for his homestead, and also a pleasant site near the 


118 


AMOJXE. 


river, Mr. Dwight had built near the manufactu- 
ring district of the town. And as the years rolled 
by, Mrs. Dwight discovered how few of the resi- 
dents of the neighborhood enjoyed any spiritual 
training whatever, because of the high prices 
charged for seats in the churches, and also because 
the mothers could not leave their little children. 
One mother remarking on the situation, said to Mrs. 
Dwight : “ It does not seem as though there was 
anything in the world that so un-nerves a minister 
or a hull house full of grown up men and women, 
and makes ’em look so helpless and implorin’, as one 
poor little inoffensive baby.” For these reasons, 
Mrs. Dwight decided to invite the mothers and the 
children to her home on Sunday afternoons. The 
mothers met with Mrs. Ward in the pleasant 
library. Theodora, assisted by one or two friends, 
usually sang and told true stories to the children 
in the long drawing-room, while the babies en- 
joyed a delightful hour, when the weather was 
pleasant, rolling or creeping over the bright rugs 
that were spread on the grass, it being the particu- 
lar delight of a circle of little girls of Mrs. Dwight’s 
acquaintance to take care of these same babies, 
even to the extent of dressing them in the simple 


AMORE. 


119 


white dresses furnished by her for such as could 
not be thus attired at home. 

The day of the annual strawberry festival, 
which Mr. and Mrs. Dwight always gave, was the 
red-letter day of the year to all the participants. 

Philip Ward had heard so much of the good 
influences wrought throughout the entire neighbor- 
hood by this quiet home work, that the fete would 
have been one of unusual interest to him aside 
from his rapidly developing interest in Theo- 
dora. Hence, scarcely had the town clock ceased 
striking the hour of five, the earliest moment 
when the elder visitors were expected, when he 
entered the spacious grounds. 

Theodora must, in some previous embodiment, 
as our friends the Theosophists would say, have 
been in the habit of posing for artists, as she 
invariably seemed to become the central object of 
whatsoever group or scene she formed a part. 

“ Always posing for effect,” had more than once 
been hinted by the owners of eyes overcast with 
the blinding film of jealousy ; “ it is a peculiarity 
she inherits from her grandmother,” insisted 
the maiden Aunt Maria, adding, “ one of her great- 
aunts was so graceful that she just escaped becom- 


120 


AMOBE . 


in g a danseuse.” While those whose vision had 
been illuminated by a study of spiritual verities 
understood that Theodora deserved neither special 
credit nor blame ; that somewhere her spirit had 
attained to harmonious development, which spir- 
itual condition had resulted in physical beauty, 
a happy, loving, joyous nature and a confident 
faith in the omnipotence of love. 

“ Here come Theodora and Earle,” said Delight 
Friske to a friend, as the two young women were 
returning from a picnic one evening. “ Now listen, 
please, to the account of each, and you can scarcely 
believe that they have been in the same place. 
Earle will tell of every spider she saw, and each 
little grasshopper that jumped upon the table 
cloth, while Theodora will report a glorious day, 
everybody so kind and charming, the most beauti- 
ful effects in cloud and shade, and a regular bene- 
diction of a sunset.” 

While we have thus digressed, the young pas- 
tor has wandered on, and is thoroughly enjoying 
a tableau which Theodora and the children have 
unconsciously arranged for him. 

In order to distract the attention of some of 
the smaller children from the appetizing tables 


AMOliE. 


121 


until the auspicious moment for serving the feast 
should arrive, Theodora had decoyed them to a 
most artistic old arbor, a perfect bower of climb- 
ing roses and honeysuckle, in the centre of which 
a bright rug had been placed on which this group 
of happy children were seated, busily engaged in 
making wreaths of clover blossoms. One little 
44 Goldie-Locks,” tired of play, had fallen asleep 
with her head resting in Theodora’s lap, and as 
she leaned against the side of the arched and rus- 
tic doorway for support, another little, loving 
admirer, who had just completed her wreath, is ex- 
claiming, 44 O, Miss Theodora, let’s play that you 
are our queen.” 

Just at this opportune moment Philip Ward 
arrives, and witnesses the impromptu picture of 
Theodora and the sleeping child. The bright- 
eyed little wreath-maker standing upon tiptoe, 
is just ready to place the garland upon Theo- 
dora’s head, as, with a loving smile, she puts up 
her hand in protest against the crowning, for 
fear that the ceremony may awaken the sleeping 
child. 

“ If some of the old 4 masters ’ could have 
studied this picture, some of the Madonnas would 


122 


AMORE. 


have been more satisfactory,” soliloquized Philip 
Ward, as he advances toward the slightly startled 
group, and seats himself upon the lower step of 
the arbor, thereby frightening the coy little flower 
gatherers, who flutter away like a flock of birds, 
leaving the young man and maiden and the sleep- 
ing child together. 

Their conversation, naturally, was of flowers and 
color, fragrance and beauty, until Theodora was 
startled by the earnestness with which Philip said, 
“ Theodora” (he had not addressed her thus famil- 
iarly before), “ I have often reverted with a keen 
sense of mortification, at my appearance of deaf- 
ness at our first meeting ; but, some beautiful pic- 
tures I have seen to-day have been so bewildering 
that I find myself wondering if it would not have 
been safer to have been born blind. 

“ I have inherited from my mother such a love 
of beauty, that I am at times in danger of being 
almost enslaved by it, and yet, my admiration for 
intellectual women is so great that I sometimes 
wonder if my heart is not in my head ? ” 

“ O dear, I hope not, for then it would be use- 
less for me to even hope to ever get ahead of you,” 
exclaimed the irrepressible Delight, whom we 


AMORE . 


123 


fear had purposely advanced toward the arbor 
by somewhat stealthy approaches. “ However, if I 
may not hope to get ahead of you, I will at least 
ask for your hand, in order that I may lead you 
to the feast, for the strawberries are getting cold 
while the cream is fairly soured by the envious 
glances the young women have been sending at 
Theodora for detaining you so long.” 

“Indeed I did not intend to remain here so 
long, Delight, but I did not like to disturb this 
little girl.” 

“ O, nonsense, Dorian, now be honest. I have 
heard of people borrowing children in order to get 
a good excuse for attending a circus (taking the 
child to see the animals, you know — and yet, once 
inside the tent, the chaperone secures a good seat 
near the clown, no matter how hard the poor, little 
borrowed child screams to see the elephant) 
but I never heard of giving a child soothing-syrup 
in order to have a quiet talk with one’s pastor. I 
would borrow one myself, but my star is different 
from yours, and the blessed baby would wake and 
cry at the wrong minute, sure as fate.” 

Theodora accepted Delight’s badinage with 
good grace, and yet she was annoyed and embar- 


124 


AMORE. 


rassed because she was annoyed, as, under Delight’s 
guidance, they were led away to the feast. 

One feature of this annual festival, for two years 
past, had been a little after-dinner speech from 
Theodora, but as Mr. Ward was present, she in- 
sisted that he should speak first. 

While Philip Ward was a very versatile genius, 
he had his limitations, and he evinced the large- 
ness or greatness of his nature in his recognition 
of the fact that he had not yet developed the power 
of talking well to little children. 

Of course he loved children, and the children 
recognized that fact as they always do, and they 
would listen to him gladly, but he did not seem to 
be one of them, he did not understand them as 
Theodora did, because not yet had he developed 
into the greatness of “ becoming as a little 
child.” 

On this day he was unusually unfortunate, as 
he was not so much thinking about interesting the 
children as he was congratulating himself upon 
the opportunity to obviate any undue influence 
which might have been exerted by the somewhat 
unorthodox instructions of their teacher. 

In this honest desire to proclaim the truth as he 


AMORE. 


125 


understood it, Philip Ward was as nobly true as 
are those who have attained to higher vision. 
The traveller who has arrived at the highest peak 
of a mountain, although voicing a triumphant song 
inspired by the beauty of the scene, and breadth of 
view thereby secured, is necessarily no purer, no 
more aspiring, than some faithful toiler at the 
base. 

He was far too wise to indulge in prolonged 
remarks, and yet, in these few moments, he scat- 
tered a few of the theological thistles of original 
sin and total depravity, which Mrs. Dwight and 
Theodora had been so carefully endeavoring to dig 
up. He spoke of the beauty of the scene, and of 
the day, of the blessing of friends and teachers, of 
love and friendship, and then, to those little im- 
aginative children, he pictured God as a great, 
sleepless eye, and, alas ! not as a loving one, 
for in a moment of unusual embarrassment he 
quoted a verse which he had never before recalled 
to the minds of children, “ God is angry with the 
wicked every day.” 

Many little children clung more closely to their 
mothers, and as one little, motherless bairn caught 
Theodora’s hand with a frightened, nervous clasp, 


126 


AMOBE. 


she was conscious of deeper regret than she had 
known for years. 

Should she endeavor to modify his statement 
here, and now, or wait until the following Sab- 
bath, when he would not be present ? The latter 
course would be cowardly. Quickly there flashed 
through her mind, as thoughts do flash in such 
moments, “ He is young, not many months re- 
moved from a theological school, therefore, he is 
illy prepared to listen patiently to dissenting 
opinions from a woman, especially one younger 
than he.” 

She thoroughly realized that by merely suppress- 
ing the truth, which actually seemed struggling 
to he voiced, she would strengthen the bond of a 
friendship so essential to her, while by fearless or 
untrammelled utterance she might snap it asunder, 
thereby blighting the fairest hope of her young 
life, and yet the law of her life was such that she 
must he true to the inner light, she must he guided 
by the inner voice, although everything hut truth 
should be forfeited. 

Does some reader think that she over-estimated 
her duty? What was the simple, yet divine, test 
submitted of old ? “ Simon, lovest thou me ? 


AMORE. 


127 


Feed my lambs ; ” and she believed it to be our 
most sacred duty, never to dim the love-lit 
eyes, or chill the loving hearts, or retard, with 
our impious fears, the bounding steps of any of 
His little ones. 

From the somewhat impatient children, there 
was a vigorous call for Theodora, to which, after 
bravely conquering her indecision she responded, 
by asking, “ What is that, dear children ? ” as she 
held a thorny, leafless branch of a rosebush before 
them. 

“ Oh, it’s a stick ? ” 

“ Yes, but what kind of a stick ? ” 

“ Just a regular old sticker, full of thorns.” 

“ Yes, it is a homely stick, with many briers on 
it, and I suppose that if you should find it in the 
road you would not think it worth carrying home, 
would you ? But look — see here, what is this ? ” 
And Theodora waved before them a glowing 
branch of rich, red roses. “ Somebody who had 
learned the beautiful lesson that everything is 
good, and that God never makes mistakes, some 
day found just such a thorny stick as this one ; 
he took it to his home, cared for it, loved it, left it 
out with God’s sunshine and rain, the clouds and 


128 


AMORE. 


the dew and birds, and then what did it do for 
him? — Just loved and loved, and told him so in 
roses.” 

“ Now, remember, sweethearts, there is no child 
on the earth so crooked or thorny but that, when 
it knows and understands the truth about this 
wonderful love of God, will grow for Him Love’s 
roses.” 

“ But say, Miss Theodora, what makes the briers ? 
What for did He make the very prettiest flowers 
all stuck up with thorns ? ” eagerly questioned an 
embryo philosopher. 

“ I used to wonder why, too, but I read a short 
time ago that the thorns were to protect the roses 
from the caterpillars and worms ; but for these 
thorns the caterpillars and other worms could climb 
up the stems and destroy the unprotected flowers.” 

“ Well — that’s a dandy plan, now ain’t it?” 

“ Look again, children. See this,” and she held 
in the top of a glass box an unusually large cater- 
pillar. “ What is this ? ” 

“ Oh a caterpillar — a caterpillar. Mv ! ain’t he 
ugly ? ” 

“ Do you think so ? Something like a pussy- 
willow come to life ; but see — look straight at this 


AMORE. 


129 


box, and see how even caterpillars turn into little 
angels ? ” And as she opened the box there flut- 
tered from it a most beautiful butterfly, which, as 
though enjoying the admiration of the children, 
and willing to prolong their pleasure, circled grace- 
fully about, and then alighted upon Theodora’s 
hair, greatly to the delight of the children. 

“Now I will recite a few verses to you, and 
then you may return to your play, and suppose we 
invent a new game of ‘ Hunting for the angel in 
everybody ? ’ ” 


9 


iso 


AMOJxjl. 


CHAPTER VIII. 

THEODORA AND HESTER. 

“ There Pity, shuddering, wept; 

But Love, with faith too strong for fear, 

Took heart from God’s almightiness, 

And smiled — a smile of cheer. ” 

Whittier. 

Every day is a miracle. This perfect June 
morning is miraculously divine, with its tran- 
scendent alchemy so glorifying the world, so illu- 
minating the clouds, so spiritualizing the waters, 
so inspiring the soul that earth seems transmuted 
into paradise. The little children gathering 
flowers are the angels ; the sunshine seems vivi- 
fying as the light of Truth; God is near and 
Heaven here and now. 

Into this earthly paradise a little boat comes 
kissing the water into smiles as “ the ripples in 
rhyme the oars forsake ; ” a dainty, graceful, little 
craft, pink as the lining of a sea-shell, its oars 


AMORE . 


131 


fringed with silver and jeweled with sunbeams ; 
while a veritable u Gift of God ” seems Theodora 
Dwight, her young face radiant with hope and 
love, while her dress of filmy white, her hat, and 
even the glistening edges of the boat are fringed 
with fragrant branches of Spring’s most beautiful 
blossoms, our fair pilot having eagerly awaited the 
lighting up of the forests with the rosy lamps of 
the wild apple-trees. 

To reproduce this picture of sky and shore, of 
beauty, youth, aspiration and faith, is as impossible 
as to paint odor. Hence, the question arises how 
best to complete the outline with the radiant 
tints of hope and love. 

Pausing in her rowing, to in-breathe the glory 
of the morning, Theodora observes, leaning from 
the shore, a gnarled old tree, whose branches in 
seeking the water have formed a perfect bower. 
With skillful strokes of the oars she sends her 
obedient boat into the leafy retreat, where nothing 
more substantial than shadows and perfume seems 
to share with her the sacred silence. 

Dropping the oars and throwing back her hat, 
she toys with the crystal water, until 


132 


AMORE. 


“ With dreamful eyes, 

Her spirit lies 

Under the walls of paradise,” 

when, suddenly, the hot breath of danger seems to 
smite her cheek. 

Instantly, the densely wooded shores, whose 
sunlit aisles, as she had watched them from her 
boat, seemed safe as sacred groves, are meta- 
morphosed into dangerous haunts. She realizes 
with painful swiftness how aimlessly she has 
been rowing and drifting; that she is miles 
from home and alone, and that there is danger 
near. Instinctively she looks up to see if a snake 
coiled on the branches of the over-hanging tree 
is ready to strike her, when a man’s hand is 
suddenly thrust towards the anchor chain, and in 
another instant the face of one, mad with passion 
and inflamed with liquor, glares upon her. 

The habit of a lifetime expresses itself uncon- 
sciously, as she quickly voices her prayer for 
guidance. 

******* 

Did the semi-intoxicated man, by a miscalcula- 
tion, fail to reach the chain, and in his stumbling 
give a sudden impetus to a rolling stone, which in 


AMOBE. 


133 


its turn fell against the boat and gave to it the jar 
which, before Theodora could grasp an oar, sent it 
out into deeper water ? Or did an unseen angel- 
hand, with swift vibrations of love, change the 
movement of the water? Something occurred 
which rendered her as safe from the touch of the 
wretchedly ignorant man as though a continent 
had divided them, instead of a few feet of water. 

Theodora was so conscious of some unseen 
presence that, instinctively, she exclaimed, as, 
with bated breath, she saw the animalized man 
disappear amid the deep shadows of the wood, 
“ I thank Thee, O divine Spirit of Love, that Thou 
dost give Thine angels charge concerning us.” 

And yet, the dangerously ignorant man (a man 
born of an unwilling mother and a sadly ignorant 
father), finding himself thwarted in his cruel pur- 
pose, again turned to his worst enemy, a bottle of 
liquor, and thus with reason almost dethroned, 
rambled on, until he found, sitting almost directly 
in his path, a young woman, who had wandered 
away from her hotel in order that she might for- 
get the havoc and heartbreak she had caused by 
her ofttimes heartless coquetries, by reading the 
thrilling pages of an exciting French novel ; a 


134 


AMOEE. 


book, whose author seemed to revel in the por- 
traiture of crime ; a book that so developed the 
spirit of hate and vibrations of revenge that the 
reader seemed deprived of the protecting power 
of love, when the intoxicated man made his assault 
upon her. 

Where was God ? Where were the angels ? 
Is the Heavenly Parent partial, hence unjust, in 
thus affording protection to one of His children 
and withdrawing it from another ? “ And (you 
perhaps indignantly question) do you mean to 
insinuate that because Hester Baird was thus 
engaged in reading an exciting novel that she 
was denied protection ? ” 

By no means. But we are beginning to glimpse 
a law, a possibility of an unfoldment or spiritual 
development, which, even in the earth-life, becomes 
a sure guide unto peace, safety, joy and love. 

It is the same law used by Lucretia Mott when, 
although physically so fragile, she placed her hand 
upon that of the leader of the mob (assembled 
for the purpose of lynching her co-laborers) say- 
ing, “this man will see me safely through the 
crowd,” and as her cotemporaries assure us, “the 
red-shirted ruffian looked once into her angelic 


AMOBE. 


135 


face and escorted her home at the risk of his own 
life!” 

The great preacher of Brooklyn emphasizes his 
recognition of this plane of unfoldment when in his 
44 Life of Christ ” he writes : 

44 The reconciliation of the human soul with the 
Divine, is also the harmonization of the two great 
spheres, the material and the spiritual. Men will 
then no longer be under the exclusive dominion 
of natural law in the plane of matter. They will 
come under the influence of another and a higher 
form of natural law, that of spirit. Nature is 
not confined to matter. To us it begins there ; 
but nature includes the earth and the heavens, 
the visible and the invisible, all matter and all 
spirit.” 

44 That portion of natural law which regulates 
physical things is nearest to our knowledge, but 
it is not the typical or universal. As seen from 
above, doubtless it is the lowest form of law. Nature 
is the universe. Nature, as man’s physical senses 
discern it, is poor and meagre compared with its 
expansion in the invisible realm where God 
dwelleth.” 

44 Natural law runs through God’s dominions 


136 


AMOEE. 


in harmonious subordination, those of the spiritual 
world haying pre-eminence and control. 

“ We shall find that Jesus differed from ordinary 
men, not by living above natural laws, but by 
living in a larger sphere of natural laws. He 
harmonized in his life the laws of spirit and matter. 

“ In his miracles he but exhibited the supremacy 
of the higher over the lower, of the spiritual over 
the material.” 

To our thought, Jesus of Nazareth came to win 
a world from its bondage to the letter of the law, 
mere theological dogma ; to save a world from its 
gross materialism by bringing life and immortality 
to light and to proclaim the cause, the strength 
and the fulfillment of the highest law to be Love. 

Thus Theodora Dwight had, by a life of aspira- 
tion toward the truth, and by faithfully endeavoring 
to fulfil the divine law of love toward every creat- 
ure, placed herself in such harmony with these laws, 
that the angels which were given charge concerning 
her, could more readily draw near. A voice hath 
assured us (from whence we know not) that “ if the 
hearts of God’s children could for one moment 
rest in confident content, yea, more quickly than 
the mother’s response to her baby’s first smile, 


AMORE. 


137 


the angels of God would again walk with men.” 

And Hester Baird ? Let us hold our tumultuous 
questionings in abeyance, confident that we will 
have actual proof that all things, even what ap- 
pear to us “the darkest, deadliest things,” work to- 
gether for good. 


138 


AMORE. 


CHAPTER IX. 

love’s philosophy. 

“ For thou, O Spring ! canst renovate 
All that High God did first create. 

Be still His arm and architect, 

Rebuild the ruin, mend defect ; 

Chemist to vamp old worlds with new, 

Coat sea and sky with heavenlier blue, 

New tint the plumage of the birds, 

And slough decay from grazing herds, 

Sweep ruin from the scarped mountains, 

Cleanse the torrent at the fountain, 

Purge Alpine air by towns defiled, 

Bring to fair mother, fairer child ; 

Not less renew the heart and brain, 

Scatter the sloth, wash out the stain, 

Make the aged eye sun-clear, 

To parting soul bring grandeur near. 

Under gentle types, my spring 
Masks the might of Nature’s king, 

An energy that searches thorough 
From Chaos to the dawning morrow ; 

Into all our human plight, 

The soul’s pilgrimage and flight ; 

In city or in solitude, 

Step by step, lifts bad to good, 

‘ Without halting, without rest,’ 

‘ Lifting Better up to Best ; ’ 

‘ Planting seeds of knowledge ’ pure, 

‘ Through earth to ripen, through Heaven endure.’ 

Emekson. 


AMORE. 


139 


Artists and poets have depicted with power and 
pathos the passion of love, the despair of remorse, 
the cruelty of jealousy, but Literature waits for 
the genius who is to win a peerless fame by a 
faithful representation or portrayal of the greatest 
drama incident to earth-life, the struggle of a spirit 
in love with Truth in its search for light. 

Ever and always the supreme question of devout 
thinkers has been : “If the Creator of the universe 
is infinite in power, omnipotent and omniscient in 
love for the created, how is it possible for a Satan 
or gigantic power of evil to exist, in this same 
God-permeated world? The intellect asks how 
would it be possible for human parents possessed 
of infallible wisdom, omnipotent love and bound- 
less resources to give birth to a Satanic child ? ” 
The intellect answers, once admit the goodness, 
wisdom and power of the parents and such a result 
becomes an impossibility. 

To such an hour of questioning, to such a Geth- 
semane of agony had Theodora Dwight now come. 
In various ways called upon, as but few young 
women of her age in America have ever been, to 
see and know the wrongs, the injustice and the 
cruelty perpetrated upon helpless childhood and 


140 


AMORK 


outraged womanhood, she had more than once 
echoed from the depths of a heart drenched with 
love and pity for the suffering and degraded, the 
thought, “ I am glad that I am not God, and thus 
responsible for the sorrow, tears, and heart-break of 
the world.” 

Once or twice she had been summoned to soothe 
by her singing the drunken frenzy of the son of a 
widowed friend — many times had she visited the 
jails and police courts in connection with her 
philanthropic work — but never had such a problem 
confronted her as when, upon the day of which I 
write, she had been called suddenly away from 
the heavenly peace, the rosy glow of a perfect 
spring morning to witness the humiliation, despair 
and agony of outraged womanhood, and enforced 
motherhood ; to stand by the side of a sister woman 
who has been called upon to endure the cruellest 
experience possible to earth. 

She knows that here and now she must find a 
philosophy or religion that will satisfy her sense 
of wrong, injustice and oppression, or that from 
henceforth for her all is Chaos ; and this world 
without God, or hope, or light. 

The day had been passed in ministrations to 


AMORE. 


141 


Hester Baird, who has found safe anchorage from 
the frightful storm which has passed over her, in 
the home of Mrs. Ward; and now, Theodora, in 
such anguish of soul as she has never before known, 
eagerly seeks her home and the quiet of her own 
room ; saying as she bids her mother good-night, 
“ I must go and be alone with God and the stars, and 
if I cannot find comfort there, it seems to me that 
I must die, for who could wish to live, who could 
dare to live in a world where such hideous wrongs 
are allowed ? ” 

As she entered her room, she went at once to 
the open window, from whence she could see the 
Heavens which to-night were “ displaying the 
glory of God ; ” and yet she hated the glory re- 
vealed, hated the peace that brooded over the 
world, the fresh, life-giving odors of the early 
spring, the breath of hyacinths and daffodils ; the 
fragrance wafted from southern clover fields seemed 
to make her faint with antagonism. For a moment 
she stood upright looking defiantly at the brooding 
stars. What was all this beauty and this peace 
but a hideous mockery to the soul of her sister 
woman who, if there was a God, surely might have 
been protected from assault and outrage. 


142 


AMORE. 


Something in the brooding silence at last reached 
her spirit and touched her so that she knelt, but 
knelt with eyes wide open, as she looked up and 
up into the starry depths as though nothing could 
now deter her from finding God, if there was any 
God. 

At last her thoughts seemed to have forged for 
themselves a voice out of their own intensity, so 
strangely unnatural were the tones which fairly 
stabbed the starry stillness as she said, speaking 
now as she had never in all of her life spoken be- 
fore : 

“ O God, if there be any God, conscious of Thy 
power to condemn or annihilate me if Thou dost 
exist, yet at this hour I will be true , I will speak the 
truth and say, if Thou hast seen and known my 
struggle for truth, if Thou hast heard my prayers 
for light and guidance, if Thou dost recognize my 
consuming desire to help my fellow-beings up and 
out of their poverty, despair and ignorance ; to 
help my fellow-men escape from intemperance, to 
save sister women from outrage ; if Thou hast 
known all this, and being omnipotent, dost not now 
give me clear unmistakable light, I hate Thee ! ” 

With the last words she bowed her head as if 


AMORE. 


148 


waiting for the rebuking blow to fall, when sud- 
denly, either the room or the whole world, or her 
spiritual consciousness was flooded, enfolded in a 
radiating light, while a voice clearer and more 
unmistakable than any to which she had ever lis- 
tened, vibrated to her these words : 

“ Child ! daughter ! There is no real evil. Every- 
thing is progressing on its divine upward way to 
the good. The basic law of life is growth, develop- 
ment, fruition. Understand that an all-wise, all- 
loving Creator foreknew that the greatest, richest, 
divinest blessing that could be bestowed upon the 
created was the delight of the search for and dis- 
covery of Truth. 

“ These experiences could not be enjoyed, could 
not be bestowed by an Omnipotent Creator by any 
other method than that of causing the young im- 
mortal to commence his star-ward journey in igno- 
rance.” 

“ Wait, my child. Abide in loving trust. With- 
hold thy verdict until the wise years decide and 
reveal what this experience of thy sister woman 
shall have wrought for her.” 

Theodora had received her answer, and in it she 
found her life-work ; for with it came the divine 


144 


AMOBE. 


realization of the parenthood of the Creator, the 
familyhood of the created. The dark cloud of 
sin was illumined with hope, while over all and 
through all, above and around, she felt, rather than 
saw, the rosy gleams of the divine love. 

Humanity was not totally depraved, unreclaim- 
ably sinful, but only ignorant of the good. Igno- 
rant of God, whom to know aright is to love. And 
“all shall know Him, from the least unto the 
greatest.” 

Again she glimpsed a great truth, which had in 
other vision hours appeared to her like a transfig- 
uring beam, that at last (thank God, at last), 
woman was emerging from the greatest, most pro- 
found and deepest ignorance of the past ; a belief 
in the curse of Eve. 

If, as the voice prophetic had revealed to her, 
“ everything was good,” then womanhood, mother- 
hood was a blessing, a benediction, a divine magna- 
charta from the Author of Life, and that mother- 
hood never ruined a woman. Motherhood, not a 
curse but a blessing, so divine that neither wrong 
nor oppression, nor outrage, nor the flaming sword 
of legal injustice, need keep the mother-heart from 
her Paradise Regained, when baby hands and baby 


AMORE. 


145 


eyes are sent by Infinite Wisdom to guide her back 
to purity and love. 

O Jesus of Nazareth ! By this we know that Thou 
wert indeed the divine Son of God, because Thou 
didst proclaim the one God, a Spirit of Love, and 
the one law, Love, — love to God and man. And 
that in choosing to be born of a virgin thou didst 
set Thy divine seal on the divinity of motherhood. 

10 


146 


AM011E. 


CHAPTER X. 

THEODORA AND HESTER. 


Ye are not bound ! the soul of things is sweet ; 

The Heart of Being is celestial rest ; 

Stronger than woe is will ; that which was good 
Doth pass to Better — Best.” 

“ I, Budh, who wept with all my brother’s tears, 

Whose heart was broken by a whole world’s woe, 

Laugh and am glad, for there is Liberty ! 

Ho ! ye who suffer ! Know.” 

( Light of Asia.) 

The marvellous dawn of the summer day of 
which we write was a prophecy of joy and blessed- 
ness. 

To the children it was prophetic of “ butter-cups 
and daisies ; ” to the farmers, of waving harvests ; 
to the artist, of wonderful effects in sunlight and 
shadow ; to the scientist, of a divinely transmuting 
alchemy ; to the musician, of orchestral melodies. 
For upon such days “silence is vocal if we listen 
well.” To the young the glad morning was a 
prophecy of love, to the aged a promise of renewed 


AMOEE. 


147 


strength, to the erring and desponding it brought 
vibrations of hope. To the devout and spiritual it 
seemed the realization of God. 

Throughout the borders of this wonder-land, 
there was no more holy or suggestive scene por- 
trayed or photographed than the one which was ac- 
cidentally witnessed by Philip Ward, who, being 
“ a prisoner of fear,” because of a sprained ankle, 
had been requested to leave his door open in order 
that he might observe if the newly installed nurse 
responded promptly to any call from Hester Baird, 
who had found in Mrs. Ward’s home a blessed 
asylum. 

Slowly, slowly, almost reluctantly Hester Baird 
was coming back to life. The filmy thread which 
had seemed to hold her to this life had slowly 
strengthened into a mystic cord, binding her 
despairing heart to earth and hope, while upon the 
quivering chord rested that surest arrow in the 
quiver of Infinite Tenderness, mother-love. The 
brittle strands which seemed to guide her back 
from the shadowy realms into the stranger labyrinth 
of life, were welded together by the electric thrill 
of softest baby lips and the touch of tiny baby 
hands. 


148 


AMORE. 


This first faint ray of mother-love was the one 
gleaming star, the single flickering beam of light, 
illuminating the long, hideous night of agony 
through which she had passed, an agony of spirit, 
a sense of outraged womanhood, which nothing 
but this little child-angel, this beam of love from 
the heart of the Infinite, could ever brighten or 
dispel. 

And yet Hester Baird was young ; the sweet 
Spring morning was enfolding her ; the fresh 
breezes, freighted with the morning incense of 
lilies and roses, fanned her. And this little miracle 
of life, this wonderful baby boy, with his great 
brown eyes (so like those of her own dead mother), 
was something to live for ; yes, something to live 
for, if only the world would let her live, and she 
could go away ; away from all the cold, averted 
eyes, the cruel, pharisaical eyes, which revealed 
to her that their owners thought that some- 
how she must have been at fault. If she could 
escape to some quiet spot where she could cling 
close, close to the calm, loving breast of Mother 
Nature, and be alone with the flowers, trees, and 
birds, with the stars, and with God and her child, 
it seemed that in some far-off time, for the child’s 


AMORE. 


149 


dear sake, she might again learn to be happy. 

This thought seemed to carry her swiftly for- 
ward upon the wings of Love. “ Her boy ; thank 
God he was a boy ; she would so educate that 
by his own courage and prowess he would lift 
her name from disgrace, and place it honorably 
beside his own. But at this thought the new- 
fledged hope fluttered and fell. His name? He 
had no name. This innocent baby boy must enter 
upon life maimed and manacled, disgraced, branded 
as illegitimate.” 

Did the new thought kill her ? Ah ! no ; such is 
not the method of mother-love. She would live 
now. Live to protect and shield this child from 
further wrong and injustice. Live because it 
would be so cruel to leave him now, when there 
was no hope, no opportunity, no justice, no safety 
for him anywhere in the wide world but under 
the protecting love of his mother. What if she 
should die ? What would life be to him then ? 

With that thought a new terror seized her. She 
tenderly pushed the blanket aside, and looked 
down upon the little face. 

So peaceful, so innocent, so helpless, the mother’s 
anxiety for all the future swept over her, and alone 


150 


AMORE. 


and weak she met the temptation of her life. As 
she breathed out upon the morning air the thought 
which had swept through her brain — she said : 

“ O, my wonderful baby boy, dare I allow you to 
live, or shall I mercifully hug you to death ? Is 
it true that you would at once become an angel 
again ? Then as I love you, should not I, who 
have given you life, mercifully take it again ? Is it 
not cruelty to let you live, and at last come to the 
heart-breaking knowledge of your own and your 
mother’s wrongs ? ” 

With a strangely unnatural gleam in her eyes 
she again looked at the sleeping hoy. Just at 
that moment the little lips trembled, and lo, a 
smile, her baby’s first smile, thrilled through his 
face. It wandered up into the mother’s eyes and 
she fell half fainting back upon her pillows, ex- 
claiming, “ O, God, I could die for him, I could 
die with him, but I could not harm a hair of his 
head. He must live. I was mad to think I could 
send him back to heaven. God help me ! ” 

Philip Ward heard the agonizing sigh, and 
started towards the open door, but did not enter, 
because of what he at once saw and heard. 

Theodora Dwight, looking like a veritable angel, 


AMORE. 


151 


was just entering Hester’s room. In one hand she 
carried a cluster of whitest lilies, in the other a 
basket of rosebuds. 

As she stepped noiselessly to the side of Hester’s 
bed, she placed the emblematic pure white blossoms 
in the thin hands of her pale young mother, mean- 
while tenderly kissing her fair forehead. Her lov- 
ing eyes were full of tears, but she quickly smiled 
through them, exclaiming, “ The lilies are for you, 
Hester, the rosebuds are for baby.” 

“ Baby who, Theodora ? Listen to me. It is well 
that you have come, for it seemed to me that the 
best and bravest thing I could do was to strangle 
my baby and let them hang me for it. Think of 
it. This innocent boy, through no fault of his own, 
is sent into the world with no right to a home, no 
right to a father’s protection, and no legal right to 
a name. I was learning to bear the cruel wrong 
and injustice I have suffered, but when I realize 
that my child is to be branded as illegitimate, that 
he has not even a legal right to a name, I realize 
at the same time that there is no mercy, justice, or 
love anywhere. No God, no God, I hope, Theodora ! 
For if there is a God, and He is omnipotent, and 
yet allows women and children to be thus wronged, 


152 


AMORE. 


outraged and defrauded, I hate Him ; and where He 
is would never be Heaven for me. 

“ You look troubled, Theodora, but you must let 
me talk now or I shall go mad, or die. Listen to 
me ; listen and answer me truly. Could you be 
wronged, agonized, crucified as I have been, could 
you try to forgive God for allowing the outrage, 
and then pray and plead with Him not to send 
motherhood, or at least a living child as the result ; 
have that prayer denied ; then endure agony such 
as I did, and then in your weakness be obliged to 
face the fact that your child was declared illegiti- 
mate ; could you look into the divinely innocent 
eyes of a beautiful baby, and realize what awaited 
it, and then say you loved such a God as that ? 

“ Tell me truly, Theodora, don't you think, if you 
had omnipotent power you could have made abetter, 
safer, happier world for women and children ? ” 

Philip Ward remained almost motionless and 
breathless, and now he waited as if spell-bound 
for Theodora’s answer. He felt that the founda- 
tions of his faith were shaken as never before. 
What could the answer from one woman, loving, 
protected, respected, be to her sister woman, suffer- 
ing from the cruelest experience known to earth. 


AMORE. 


153 


Theodora Dwight tenderly took the thin hands 
of her friend between her own, then kneeling be- 
side her, she paused a moment, when Hester Baird 
saw that the face of her friend was becoming 
radiant with such a light as she had never seen in 
human face before, while into her voice there came 
tones so full of conviction and silent power that 
they fell like balm on the wounded air that seemed 
still throbbing with Hester’s stabbing words, horn 
of outraged innocence. 

“ Listen, my precious friend. I could not have 
answered you yesterday as I think I can to-day. 
Listen and believe me, trust me, and do not think 
it mere cant, born of lack of sympathy or inexperi- 
ence ; for it has almost broken my heart, drowned 
all the joy out of life, and sent me through a 
Gethsemane of doubt to see you suffer thus. And 
yet I believe I could suffer all that you have endured 
and still cling, cling to an abiding faith in a 
God of Love — an omnipotent Spirit of Good, — One 
so able, so divinely powerful, that even out of this, 
to us, greatest wrong possible to earth, He will 
bring nothing but good. 

“ Listen dear, only listen until I am through, for 
I believe you will find comfort and strength. You, 


154 


AMORE. 


in jour divine, real, spiritual self are not ruined. 
You are as pure as any woman that lives. It is 
not in the power of any man that lives to render 
impure the spirit of a pure woman. 

“ Teach your child that unless God had need of 
him he would not be here ; that if God ever 
once allowed so cruel a mistake as this would he 
if it were a mistake, which He would not over-rule 
for good, then He would not be God. 

“No, I could not have made a better world for 
women and children, for I could never have con- 
ceived of anything so divine as mother-love or as 
little children. 

“ This short experience of motherhood has already 
made you a nobler, better woman. I see a new 
light daAvning in your eyes. Already the evil 
is being overcome by good. 

“ Evil, did I say ? The world has agonized 
through all the centuries over the baffling problem, 
‘ Why did an omnipotent, omniscient Spirit of 
Good ever create, or allow to be created, Evil ? ’ 
Hester, I believe that He neither allowed to be 
created or Himself created Evil, as a reality. All 
the evil, error, mistake, of the world is only our 


AMOBE . 


155 


ignorance of the good. Good is real. Good is 
positive. 

“ This truth has come to me, as the key to all 
of Life’s seeming mistake and apparent sin. 

“ Our Creator, or the Great Spirit of Love, fore- 
knew that the greatest happiness that even Om- 
nipotent Wisdom could secure to the created was 
the joy of discovery, growth, progress, hope, and 
anticipation; the constant development of new 
powers, new senses, new aspirations. You under- 
stand that even Omnipotent Wisdom could not 
have secured to us the joys and pleasures of child- 
hood, youth, and maturity without creating us 
as children, or ignorant, any more than He could 
have secured the glory of the blossoming time 
and at the same time created the perfected fruit. 
The bitter, green peach is not wicked because it 
is not ripened fruit. 

“ Please listen patiently, Hester dear, a moment 
longer. It seems to me we have also made a mis- 
take in believing that this one short life is all 
that we have even of Earth. I believe that we are 
so enfolded by perfect Love, which necessitates 
exact justice ; that every soul will be re-embodied 
or re-incarnated upon some planet, so long as it 


156 


AMORE. 


so desires , and until all opportunities and experi- 
ences are enjoyed and all powers are developed. 

“ I admit that if one short life here is all, then 
might existence to you seem a ghastly mistake, 
under present conditions. But let us ask for 
strength to look upon this world in the light of 
an eternity of growth, progress, development and 
blessedness until you catch an inspiring glimpse of 
the truth, 

‘ That God in what oft-times seems to us as cursing 
Gives us better gifts than man in benedictions.’ 

Oh, I cannot seem to explain it, and yet I 
feel, I know, that this baby boy will prove an 
angel sent to guide you into some more blessed 
experience than you could have found without 
him. 

“ But you must rest, dear. Try to go to sleep 
now, while I care for the baby boy.” 

“ Boy — I can at least thank God that he is a boy. 
Call it ignorance if it suits you better, Theodora, 
and yet you must admit that this world is still an 
unsafe place for girls and women.” And yet as the 
baby smiled, Hester murmured dreamily, “ And yet 
being a boy he can never be a mother.” 

At last Hester was asleep, and Theodora softly 


AMORE. 


157 


crooning to the tiny babe, half-whispered, “ God 
has not been unjust to woman since man, although 
he is freer, stronger, more able to protect himself, 
yet can never know the divinity of motherhood.” 

The star of faith arises in Theodora’s heart and 
by its transfiguring light she perceives a new 
heaven and a new earth. 

After tenderly kissing the sleeping babe, Theo- 
dora moved silently from the room, and to her 
great surprise, just as she entered the hall, found 
herself face to face with Philip Ward, whose ex- 
pression revealed to her, at a glance, how pro- 
foundly moved he had been by the sacred scene 
he had just witnessed. He rested heavily upon his 
crutches, thereby releasing his hand which he laid 
with a heavy, questioning grasp upon Theodora’s 
shoulder, meanwhile looking into her eyes as though 
determined to probe to their inmost depths. 
With a voice thrilling with suppressed emotion, 
he said, “ Theodora, are you a veritable angel sent 
to guide us back to the Paradise we have lost, or 
are you the most subtle temptation ever employed 
by the Arch Enemy ? ” 

“ Well, really, you would scarcely expect me 


158 


AMORE. 


to be my own witness in either case, would you ? 
But you know it has been written, 4 By their works 
you shall know them,’ and again, ‘ Faith with- 
out works is dead.’ Don’t you meet with a good 
deal of dead faith ? But, tell me, why are you 
still so lame, apparently ? ” 

“ Apparently ? You do not mean to intimate 
that my lameness is only apparent, do you ? My 
foot is absolutely green, and the pain is almost ex- 
cruciating at times. But, I remember ; I under- 
stand that you have caught this new craze ; suppose 
you experiment upon me, and win a new convert 
by curing me ? However, I assure you that I have 
not a particle of faith. Can you cure me under 
those circumstances ? ’’ 

44 Yes, if I can develop faith enough for both ? 
You admit, do you not, that there have been 
well authenticated instances where what we call 
death, has been caused by fright, at the mere 
receipt of some startling news. Not an organ, a so- 
called physical organ of the body, having been so 
much as touched, and yet such power has the 
mind over the body that it can kill it. And we 
know that 4 paralyzed by fear ’ has become a 
popular statement. Now, if the mind or spirit, or 


AMORE. 


159 


will, use either term you may prefer, has such 
power over the physical body, can it not cure 
it ? If the spirit can kill, although you may not be 
willing to admit that it can therefore make alive, 
you surely must admit that it can cure. You also, 
as a Christian minister, must believe in a God 
who is an omnipresent, omnipotent Spirit of Love. 
Just remain perfectly quiet then, and either do not 
attempt to think at all ; remain entirely passive, or 
else hold in your consciousness the omnipresence 
of God; hence the omnipresence of strength, 
harmony, health.” 

After a few moments of perfect quiet, Theodora 
said : “ Now, please, give me your crutches and 
take a step without them.” 

“ O — I could not bear it, and yet — wait a moment 
— somehow in some way I am surely conscious of 
returning or re-infused strength in that foot. I 
really believe that I can take a step.” 

“ Of course you can, not only one, but as many 
as you please, for walking is first a mental process, 
and you remember 4 as a man thinketh so is he.’ ” 

“ Excuse me, but even a minister grows tired of 
having the Bible quoted to him. You do not for 
one moment suppose that that passage refers to the 


160 


AMOBE. 


body. It only refers to the character. But we will 
not take the time now to discuss that, if you will 
please tell me, Theodora, how you healed that foot. 
What is the law? For although like the blind man 
who could only say, 4 whereas I was blind, now I 
see,’ I am obliged to admit, that whereas I was 
lame, now I can step without a particle of pain. 
I believe that I begin to apprehend dimly a law, 
that, carried to its limit of power, will usher in the 
millennium. So please state the law.” 

“ I can give you the law, but I can no more explain 
the process of its action than I could paint melody. 
Jesus of Nazareth gave it to the world in a mar- 
vellous trinity of words when he said, 4 God is 
love.’ Reverse it if you choose and say, 4 Love is 
God,’ Love the creative, sustaining, attractive, 
saving principle of the universe. 

44 When the 4 healer ’ recognizes this truth, that 
God is a Spirit of Love, omniscient, omnipotent 
and omnipresent, and that the individual must base 
his hope of immortality upon the fact that his 
spirit is divine and immortal, now ; made in the 
image of God, since he and 4 the Father ’ are one ; 
when this actual recognition takes place, then 
health, peace, harmony, do manifest themselves. 


AMORE. 


161 


But the process I cannot explain, it is a law as 
subtle and swift in its operation as is the one 
which causes a strong man to blush and tremble 
in the presence of the woman he loves.” 

“ And yet, pardon me, Theodora, all the so-called 
metaphysicians do not seem to fully illustrate his 
wonderful law of love in their daily lives.” 

“ Ah, no. If they did, the millennium would 
dawn in all hearts as it has in some. If it is diffi- 
cult to state this law, it is also difficult to live 
it, since habit, custom, belief, superstition, have 
woven such an entangling web about us that 
clouds often obscure the glorious sunlight, which 
is nevertheless surely shining. 

“Excuse me, Mr. Ward, and I will endeavor to 
bring this down to the level of your compre- 
hension,” said Theodora, laughingly, “ and allow 
me to preach a little longer, since I quite enjoy the 
pulpit, with you in the pew. 

“ Do you not recognize as a truth that you in 
your real or spiritual self are immortal, diseaseless, 
deathless spirit now ? Since if spirit can disinte- 
grate, become weak and die, then is our hope of 
immortality vain. It seems to me that Jesus of 
Nazareth came to bring ‘life and immortality to 


162 


AMOBE. 


light.’ He came not to condemn the world, but 
rather that through Him we might find life. ‘ He 
was the first fruits of them that slept,’ and 
through His knowledge of the law of love, wdiich 
is the law of immortality, since love never dies, 
will yet surely draw all men unto Him. 

“ Many do not yet even glimpse the dawning 
splendors of the new time in which we live. We 
are illumined and enfolded by new hopes, new 
discoveries, limitless opportunities, a new faith 
and a new literature. 

“ Read Mr. Herbert W ard’s suggestive study, 
‘ The White Crown,’ and go into the sacred 
silence where God is oftenest revealed, and learn 
the wondrous lesson that it teaches. 

“Turn to the Chautauquan, if you please, and 
note the unusual emphasis in presentation given 
to Mary Lathburg’s inspiring call : 

Arise, all souls arise ! 

The watch is past. 

A glory breaks above the clouds at last. 

The day ascending, fills the waiting skies, 

Arise, all souls arise ! 

It comes, the larger life, 

The deeper breath. 

Arise, all souls arise ! 

And conquer death. 


AMORE. 


163 


Open thy windows to the shining East, 

Call in the guests and spread a wider feast, 

The Lord pours forth as sacrificial wine 
His breath divine. 

Arise, all souls arise ! 

“ The weak are becoming strong ; the tempted 
victorious ; the timid courageous ; the enslaved 
free. Little children, emerging from the awful 
shadows of an eternal hell, are growing glad and 
happy. Decrepit age is finding in God the fountain 
of perpetual youth. Blind eyes see. Deaf ears 
hear. The poor are having the gospel of love and 
opportunity preached unto them, and to those who 
listen, joy-bells are ringing in the Golden Age of 
Love. 

“But what a long sermon I have preached. 
Pardon me, and I will try to learn to condense in 
the future. Send your crutches to the attic, 
please. Adieu I ” 


164 


AMORE. 


CHAPTER XI. 

SEVERAL CONUNDRUMS. 


“ With some struggle indeed, 
Among the breakers, some hard swimming through 
The deeps — I lost breath in my soul sometimes, 

And cried ‘ God save me if there’s any God,’ 

But even so, God saved me ; and being dashed 

From error on to error, every turn 

Still brought me nearer to the central truth.” 

Mrs. Browning. 

44 Theodora, it seems to me that you avail your- 
self of the spiritual laws recognized and taught by 
4 Christian Scientists ’ and 4 Theosophists,’ 4 Mental 
Scientists ’ and 4 Spiritualists,’ and yet, I under- 
stand, you have not strictly allied yourself with 
either of these sects. Where do you belong, if I 
may ask? ” queried Philip Ward of Theodora, at 
their next meeting. 

44 1 am merely a 4 Truth Seeker.’ Every grain of 
sand, each butterfly’s wing, the marvellous individ- 
uality of the human voice, and in fact everything 


AMORE. 


165 


in nature, illustrates to us the Creator’s recognition 
of the sacredness of the individual. It also seems to 
me that as each human being comes with a special 
message, and has a particular niche to fill ; that 
every religion has contained a truth and accom- 
plished a specific work, and that the most useful 
service one can render the world is the combining 
of the essential principles of each into a universal 
harmony. Or, perhaps a wiser work would be to 
promote the recognition of the underlying unity. 

44 Moses planted the immortal seed of truth when 
he announced the unity of God. Buddha breathed 
upon it the inspiring breath of hope and life, when 
in his greatest vision-hour, he recognized that the 
evil of the world resulted from ignorance of the 
good. Jesus brought from the holy mountain of 
his transfiguration the sacred blossom (with its 
fragrance transmuting the earth into paradise) ; 
and on its pure petals we read the wondrous revela- 
tion of a 4 God of Love.’ 

“ You remember our own Emerson wrote: ‘ And 
God said, 44 Throb,” and there was motion.’ I have 
often thought I would like to change two words, and 
have it read: ‘And God just loved, and there 
was motion.’ ” 


166 


AMORE. 


“ But, Theodora, what do you do with the Bible 
passages which refer to the Devil ?” 

Philip’s voice had risen with his excitement. 
He was looking at Theodora with a glance that re- 
vealed to her intuitive spirit that it would be a very 
easy matter for her to jeopardize, if not entirely 
wreck, by her answer, their friendship, which had 
come to mean so much to her. 

With courage, of the quality that must ever in- 
here in the true hero, courage born of entire loyalty 
to truth (after a moment’s pause in which, with the 
concentrated power of a loving will, she calmed her 
momentarily rebellious heart) she replied, mean- 
while raising her eyes to a perfect level with 
Philip’s : 

“ I have accepted with my entire being, a belief 
in an omnipresent Spirit of Love. I recognize that 
to man was given wisdom before Bibles were 
written ; that men, depending upon this wisdom, 
have changed thousands of words in our Bible. 
Hence, if I should find any passages therein whose 
letter, as at present understood, seemed to conflict 
with the omnipresence and goodness of God, I 
would prefer to decide that there had been mis- 
interpretations and mistranslations, or mistakes, 


AMORE. 


167 


than to abandon my faith in the 4 Eternal Goodness ; * 
especially since it has been revealed to the truth- 
seekers of all the ages, that the letter killeth while 
the spirit maketh alive ! ” 

Mr. Ward was silent a moment, and then said, 
44 But I do not see what connection disbelief in the 
Devil has with healing the sick. A little more 
light, please. Give me the simplest possible state- 
ment of that law.” 

44 It is just the simple law of love, which the 
greatest historic healer of the world said was the 
fulfilling of all law ; a law subtle as that which 
evolves roses from the dust-heap, or lilies from the 
slimy pond, and yet one as productive of beautiful 
results. When I can sit with a patient and so real- 
ize the omnipresence of Spirit and Love ; that the 
immortal, diseaseless, deathless, spiritual nature of 
the person appears ; when thus I can command, 
4 The perfect love that casteth out all fear,’ the pati- 
ent is invariably healed. But the cure is not liable 
to be permanent unless the patient catches a never- 
to-be-forgotten glimpse of the absolute power and 
love of God. 

44 If you would thoroughly understand the law, 
you must take every baffling problem into the 


168 


AMOliE. 


sacred silence, and with 4 faith, which is the sub- 
stance of things hoped for, the evidence of things 
not seen,’ recognize the unity of spirit, and that 
there is consequently no separation of the Creator 
and the created. Ask for and aspire towards the 
light and the truth. Endeavor to recognize the 
truth as it is in God ; not the truth as it is in our 
Bible or in other Bibles ; not the truth as it is in 
the church or out of the church, but the truth, and 
the truth shall make you free ; free to enter upon 
your divine inheritance, the inheritance indicated 
by the great teacher when he said, 4 Beloved, now 
are ye the sons of God, but it doth not yet appear 
what ye shall be ! ’ ” 

44 You do not mean to say, do you, Theodora, 
that you could sit down with a low, miserable 
drunkard or a wife-beater, and so conquer jmur 
aversion as to be able to summon up enough love 
to heal him, unless he gave signs of repentance ? ” 

44 If I could not see that man, in an interior sense, 
as one who, in his real, divine, inner self, abhorred 
such habits and tempers, as one who in sober, sane 
moments would perhaps risk his own life to save a 
child from fire or from drowning, as one who had 
possibly been, during the formative period of his 


AMOBE. 


169 


life, as much sinned against as sinning, owing to 
our apparently apathetic indifference to the en- 
vironments and education of little children, I could 
never heal him. The greatest joy of my life is 
knowledge that some such have been healed, merely 
by being convinced that they were children of God, 
and that they were forever free from the domina- 
tion or control of any malignant power. And who 
can estimate the effects of the belief in such a 
power ? 

“ Mr. Ward, if anyone should tell you that your 
earthly father had deliberately surrendered you 
into the hands of a monster, could you believe that 
such a father possessed the highest love and 
wisdom ? When, therefore, the world, turning from 
its present idolatry of believing in two Gods, recog- 
nizes only one, and that one a God of love, the key 
to the new Jerusalem will be set in the lock.” 

“ Theodora, excuse me, I shall consider what you 
say ; but did you have such a vision of me ? of me, 
devoid of all selfishness, ambition, and pride when 
you healed my foot ? ” 

u I obeyed the law as I understood it.” 

“ Well, God grant that I may not prove disobe- 
dient to your heavenly vision, and yet, forgive me, 


170 


A MO RE. 


for I must admit to you, that this question obtrudes 
itself : Did you not, by some mesmeric control 
give me the courage to attempt to move my foot, 
and is it not possible that the very effort relaxed 
some cord which had been contracted by the 
cramped and unnatural position in which I had 
held it ? ” 

“ I answer your question by asking another : 
What is mesmerism ? If I could by the action of 
my mind, develop courage in your mind, could I 
not by the action of faith develop faith, and by 
the actual recognition of spiritual health develop 
health ? I might have taken what seems to me is 
unwarrantable liberty and declared to you mentally 
that you had the courage to move your foot. 
The statement on the physical plane might not 
have been true. But if it is true, and we base 
our hope of immortality on the belief that spirit 
is immortal now, and cannot be diseased or dis- 
integrate, then I was working in harmony with, 
or reinforcing the truth for you.” 

“Well, I do desire to know the truth, and yet 
what shall I do with these obtrusive doubts ? ” 

“ I am too young to endeavor to guide you, and 
yet this one method seems the right one to me. 


AMORK 


171 


Ask honestly to have prejudices removed, and to 
be guided into the truth, though it should require 
the sacrifice of creed, church, Bible, friends, pop- 
ularity, opportunity and love. Good-bye ! ” 

Bays of truth from many sources were coming 
to the spirit of Philip Ward, but not yet had the 
light attained to strength sufficient to burst the 
theological burr which still enfolded him. Not 
yet did he feel called upon to endanger creed, 
church, or influence, and thus, like many another, 
he was more annoyed at being healed than grate- 
ful for the fact of healing. And in connection 
with this fact other inconsistencies were notice- 
able. Whereas Mr. Ward, as a scientist, recog- 
nized that owing to the marvellous progress of 
these recent wondrous years, he must cast aside as 
useless the scientific text-books of the past genera- 
tion, and consult only the very latest discoveries 
and authorities, he nevertheless, with respect to 
theological questions, constantly reverted to the 
writers of a century ago, while leaving the spiritu- 
ally illumined pages of many recent prophets and 
seers uncut and unrecognized. Such is our idola- 
try of the past, and force of precedent in thought 
and action along theological lines. 


172 


AMOBE. 


During the week following his conversation 
with Theodora, he took down from his library 
some of the most dogmatic writers of the past 
century and read at the next meeting of the 
“ Triangle Club ” the most materialistic paper he 
had ever submitted to an audience. At the close 
of the meeting he passed Theodora with an unusu- 
ally dignified greeting, and claimed from Earle 
O’Neal the privilege of escorting her home. And 
in so doing he was loyal to duty, as he then 
understood it. 

We record no tragedy, here are no exciting 
adventures, no hair-breadth escapes, and yet to 
Theodora this was one of life’s battle hours. The 
conflict between Truth and Self for a time raged 
fiercely. The moments might have lengthened 
into hours, the hours into a life of bitterness, had 
she not already developed strength and faith by 
conquering in many lesser struggles. 

As she walked on, her step grew less nervously 
rapid, her short, quick breathing deepened into 
calmness, and as she finally reached the vine- 
covered balcony from which her own room was 
entered, she stood, calm as a statue of Repose. 
Her voice vibrated with the assurance born of 


AMORE. 


173 


conscious knowledge, as she voiced the true prayer 
of her spirit in words which to be able to utter in 
perfect love and trust, metamorphoses Earth into 
Heaven : “ Thy will be done , 0 Divine Parent ; 
since I know that Thy loving will cannot bring 
to me other than the highest good.” 

When she entered her room, the prophecy of a 
smile lighted up her fair, young face, and yet a 
shadow must have lurked somewhere, since, even 
while she slept, there glistened on her rose-flushed 
cheek, a tear, a tear-jewel which seemed like a 
crystal of disappointment. 

Was it because Theodora was in dreamland 
that some strange spell seemed to enfold Philip 
Ward, and an atmosphere seductive as the subtle 
intoxication of personal ease, luxury, and comfort 
surrounded him, while he was also dimly conscious 
of the fact that his guardian angel was absent ? 

This summer night was one of wondrous beauty, 
and Earle O’Neal with perfect witchery of physical 
charms and adornment, seemed to wield an almost 
magical influence over Philip. He had a slight 
suspicion that the roseate tint in her cheeks was a 
specious “ bloom of youth,” and yet he was a man, a 
young man, heart hungry for love, and unusually 


174 


AMORE. 


lonely through having crushed his growing admi- 
ration for Theodora “ for conscience’ sake.” 

Earle O’Neal was indeed beautiful. She was 
looking into his face, with eyes scintillating with 
passion, if not luminous with love. It was moon- 
light, and e’en the summer air seemed sensuous 
with its almost oppressive weight of fragrance 
from the musk-rose and honeysuckle. 

There was a moment of delicious, dangerous 
silence, during which they seemed to breathe 
together. Somehow, Philip could never after- 
wards explain to himself just how he had gained 
possession of Earle’s soft, dimpled hand and had 
questioned eagerly, 

“ Earle O’Neal, do you not know that a century 
ago you would have been burned as a witch ? ” 

A quick glance of surprise was the only answer 
received, and soon two voices were creating a 
dangerous harmony as they sang with unusual 
feeling, the ever new, old songs of sentiment and 
love. 

The music had ceased, and Earle had risen to 
enter the house, when Philip Ward exclaimed: 
“ You seem to intoxicate my entire being to-night 
with your bewitching beauty, Earle O’Neal, and 


AMORE. 


175 


life itself seems all too short a time in which to do 
your royal bidding. I cannot think of you as a 
country-pastor’s wife ; you should reign a queen 
(at that moment Love’s passion seemed so near 
and real, duty and God so far), and yet, I love 
you, Earle — and you ? ” 

“ Love you,” responded Earle, with such quick, 
passionate response that Philip W ard experienced, 
and quickly recognized, a slight and yet unmis- 
takable recoil throughout his inmost being. 

At this moment, Robert O’Neal, who had been 
waiting with impatience for his sister to enter the 
house, was seen coming towards the arbor, and 
Mr. Ward, with almost awkward haste, made his 
adieus. 

Too deeply preoccupied with his own thoughts 
to notice Earle’s evident agitation, Robert O’Neal 
seated himself by his sister, and taking a letter 
from his pocket, said : “ Earle, you know I have 
always been a man of few words, especially when 
something disagreeable has to be said, which 
is decidedly the case to-night. You are a brave 
girl, I am sure, and will not faint or scream or 
indulge in any weakness of that kind when you 
hear my message, which is not nearly so bitter as 


176 


AMORE. 


it might have been did I not at the same time 
bring an antidote. 

“ The horrid truth is, Earle, we are beggars. 
But listen, dear. Please wait a moment. Here is 
a letter from Herr Morganthall asking you to be 
his wife, and he is a straight millionaire, you know. 
As for myself, I am yet a young man, although I 
feel myself growing old at the rate of ten knots an 
hour, and I can go West and start again. But 
you, Earle, were never made for poverty, and then 
you have insisted, you know, for two or three 
years, that you intended to marry for money, for 
the sake of the good you could do with it. Now, 
here is your chance. 

44 Morganthall is really better than the average 
man of his set. True, he has not quite such irre- 
proachable morals as the young parson whom you 
seemed to be enjoying such a pleasant tete-a-tSte 
with just now, but then, Earle, you know you - 
would be utterly miserable as a poor minister’s wife. 
You require luxurious appointments ; need to 
queen it socially.” 

44 Robert ! Robert ! don’t ! I never knew you to 
seem so heartless. Beggars ! Did you say we 
were beggars? How? What has happened?” 


AMORE. 


177 


“ Yes, beggars. Our bank has failed, and it will 
take every dollar that we have to meet the just 
demands. Of course as children of an honorable 
father, we must meet this blow honorably. But 
why do you turn so pale ? Read this letter ; it 
shows you a way out of this dilemma/’ 

“Robert O’Neal, think what you are saying. 
You declare that, because of the memory of our 
noble father, we must meet this fact honorably, 
and in the next moment advise me to sell myself, 
my love, my womanhood, in order to honor my 
father’s memory. How much longer must woman 
be held in such industrial, legal and social bondage 
that the usual method suggested by society for a 
young woman’s relief from threatened financial 
ruin, is the sale of herself in marriage ? ” 

Greatly to Robert’s surprise, his sister snatched 
the letter from his hand and threw it upon the 
arbor floor. For a time there was silence, broken 
at last by a storm of sobs from Earle, who said : 
“Let me go to my room. I cannot hear any- 
thing more about it to-night. This has been a 
great shock to me in every way, but your willing- 
ness to sell me to that man seems the cruelest 
blow of all. Good-night.” 


178 


AMOBE. 


Robert felt that Earle was unjust in her failure 
to remember that she had repeatedly announced 
her intention to marry a fortune, and was just 
debating whether he should suggest this fact in 
his own defence when, to his surprise, Earle turned 
back, entered the arbor and picked up the discarded 
letter. 

As she entered the house, Robert soliloquized : 
“ God forgive me if I do her injustice, but it is 
only a question of time with her. She imagines 
she is in love with the parson. He is a noble fel- 
low, but she has really never been truly in love 
with anything in this world but herself. True, 
she nearly broke me up with her philanthropic craze, 
but as soon as she discovered that her self-sacrifice 
did not win for her friends, recognition, and ad- 
miration, she gave the whole thing up. She has 
a dual nature, but the love of self is uppermost 
yet, and I know that she could not be happy with- 
out her luxuries and adornments. And she could 
not make a husband happy who would not supply 
her with them. It is not so much her fault, dear 
child, as her state of development. I do not think 
she is as old a spirit as Theodora by centuries. 
Possibly in her next embodiment she will have 


AMOBE. 


179 


sufficiently outgrown her love for the earth to be 
willing to 4 lay up her treasures in heaven ’ ; but 
not yet. 

44 She will never marry the poor dominie, which 
is a good thing for him, I think. And I do not 
think she will have the courage, in the face of 
present conditions, to refuse the millionaire. And 
yet, what man lives that can safely predict what a 
woman will do, under any given circumstances ? ” 

As Philip walked towards his home he for the 
first time truly recognized his own dual nature. 
He knew that his lower self had for a moment won 
the mastery, but with this recognition and con- 
sequent recoil, he summoned, by the never failing 
law of the higher self, the strength required for 
its instantaneous overthrow. He knew that what 
he had designated as love was but the passion of 
a moment, but how to achieve an honorable retreat 
was a perplexing question. It banished sleep and 
caused him upon the following morning to respond 
with promptness and enthusiasm to a request from 
some college friends, to join them immediately for 
a few weeks in the Adirondacks. 

This fact did not disclose a clear path of 
emergence from his dilemma, and he was anxiously 


180 


AMORE. 


endeavoring to devise some honorable method of 
escape, when told by Delight Friske on the follow- 
ing morning that Earle O’Neal had requested her to 
announce to him (since she thought her pastor 
deserved her confidence), the fact of her betrothal 
to Herr Morganthall. 

The necessary arrangements and preparations 
incident to a fortnight’s absence from his home 
and his church, made the day a very busy one for 
Philip Ward. However, as the train which he 
had arranged to take did not leave until late in the 
evening, he planned to spend an hour with Earle 
O’Neal. 

During the day he had heard of the failure of 
the hank in which it was generally known Robert 
and Earle O’Neal were depositors, and he was too 
honorable a man to go away without entering his 
protest against this sudden engagement, which he 
now feared was based upon other considerations 
than disinterested love. 

In regard to his own sudden and passionate 
declaration of love on the previous evening, he 
had decided to make to Earle a truthful statement. 

Arriving at the O’Neal homestead, he found upon 
stepping on to the wide porch, that both the outer 


AMORE. 


181 


and inner doors of the vestibule were open. He 
stepped across the threshold and was awaiting a 
response to the bell, when he was attracted bj the 
sound of girlish voices. Suddenly he heard Earle 
O’Neal say distinctly, ‘‘Of course, girls, you will 
keep my secret sacredly, but it was so unusual an 
experience to have two proposals in one evening, 
that I could not keep it to myself. You know I 
have no mother to confide in.” 

Quick as a flash, came Delight’s response : 

“ Great Scott ! (excuse me, girls.) But, Earle, 
you do not mean it? You refused Philip Ward? 
What a joke it would have been on the church if 
you had accepted him. The very idea of any girl 
in her senses refusing Philip Ward, with his poet- 
ic, noble, enthusiastic nature, for that stolid Mor- 
gan thall, stuns me. But what ails you, Theodora? 
What makes you so strangely quiet ? ” 

Was it imagination, or did a minor strain of 
sadness vibrate through Theodora’s voice as she 
replied, 

“ I am quiet, I suppose, because it does not seem 
to me that there is anything to say.” 

Philip’s second ringing of the bell was un- 
answered. He could not announce himself, under 


182 


AMORE. 


the circumstances, and so, more annoyed and hu- 
miliated than he had ever before been in his life, 
he retraced his steps. 

As he walked on, his own surprise deepened as 
he discovered that greater than the chagrin realized 
in connection with his experience with Earle, was 
his profound regret that she had told Theodora. 

The remaining hours of that night were freighted 
with helpful thoughts to Philip Ward, for, as the 
train rolled rapidly on through the moonlight, he 
recognized that while one possessed of such a deep 
love of beauty as he knew himself to be, might make 
an idol of, and worship while her beauty endured, 
such a woman as Earle O’Neal, he could find in the 
spiritual beauty and strength of such a woman as 
Theodora Dwight a shrine worthy of the devotion 
of an entire lifetime. 


AMOBE. 


183 


CHAPTER XII. 

A NEW ORDER OF WOMANHOOD. 

“ Love, which is sunlight of peace 
Age by age to increase, 

Till anger and hatreds are dead, 

And sorrow and death shall cease ; 

‘ Peace on earth and good will ; ’ 

Souls that are gentle and still 
Hear the first music of this 
Far off, infinite bliss.” 

Edwin Arnold. 

One of the miracles of this marvellous century 
is the manner in which woman has entered upon 
her divine mission of proclaiming “ Peace on earth, 
good will to men,” and not only good will to 
men from men, but good will to men from their 
Creator. 

Once again “The angels of God shout for joy,” 
as the loving, virgin heart of humanity, which has 
been hiding these things for centuries, reveals 
to the world the immortal beauty of the divine 
child, Love. 


184 


AMORE. 


By and through the operation of spiritual laws, 
woman has passed through barred doors, opened 
rusty locks, overthrown iron-clad customs, with a 
force that would have startled the world had it 
not developed, wrought, and manifested itself in 
silence ; a miracle-working silence like that which 
develops the germ of the oak or the motive power 
of the volcano. A significant silence which can 
be best understood by those who have felt and 
realized the portentous stillness of a morning in 
Winter, when the world awakens to the ever-recur- 
ring surprise of “ a universe of sky and snow ; ” 
that brooding silence which is yet a sure prophecy 
of some quiet, hidden energy, working power- 
fully beneath the innocent, white depths, which is 
surely to manifest its power in the marvellous 
transfiguration upon some morning such as Lowell 
describes when Spring, “From some Southern 
ambush in the sky, with one great gush of blos- 
soms, storms the world.” 

Think of it ! Synods, Conferences, and Ecu- 
menical Councils, strengthened by centuries of 
power, by intellectual attainment, by vast wealth, 
and by the “ nine points of actual possession ” of 
authority, were convening in solemn conclave to 


AMOBE. 


185 


declare that “ women must keep silence in the 
Churches,” and were preparing to inscribe above 
their pulpits “ Sacred to men,” when, behold, upon 
one bright Sabbath morning, in the City of Phila- 
delphia, where so faithfully and effectively our 
beloved Lucretia Mott had scattered the truths of 
the Spirit, seventy pulpits were occupied by women. 

Not many persons realized that a miracle had 
been wrought ; and yet, if ten years previous to 
this time, the bravest enthusiast had prophesied 
such an event, the world would have promptly 
assured her that nothing less than a miracle could 
secure such a result. 

Like the divine mother of Bethlehem, many 
women have been hiding deep things in their 
hearts. They have earnestly sought the truth, 
and by the transfiguring light of its shining, they 
have been made to see clearly that when Infinite 
Wisdom entrusts to a mother a little child, this 
mother at the same moment receives the right to 
guard and guide it all the way. 

At last, woman begins to recognize in mother- 
hood the most sacred experience of earth. And 
there shall be no more “ curse of Eve,” when 
woman understands and accepts with joy her 


186 


AMORE. 


divine inheritance, and knows that her sphere is 
boundless as a mother’s love, limitless as a mother’s 
duty. 

With the soul conscious of its glorious birth- 
right, conscious of its inherent powers, chains are 
no longer binding. Woman is at last free, because 
she has found the wings of spirit , and has discov- 
ered the spiritual laws through which her work is 
to be accomplished . 

The coming generations of men will make haste 
to share their inheritance with their mothers and 
sisters, their wives and their daughters, because 
they will understand that as they hope to win the 
love and approval of woman, they must cease to 
be tyrants. 

Theodora Dwight was one of this new order of 
women. And if any reader half impatiently as- 
serts “she is too good,” we say thee nay ; for 
we have known, at least, one such joyous, har- 
moniously developed nature, and she was as full 
of helpfulness and joy and inspiration as a perfect 
June day. Like such a day she seemed, over- 
flowing with bird music and illuminated with 
sunshine, and such a day is not the less enjoyable 
because of the storms of April. 


AMORE. 


187 


As yet, Theodora was but partially conscious of 
her latent powers. These seemed to be wing- 
growing days, days of poising for flight. 

Suddenly a most unexpected opportunity con- 
fronted her. 

During a visit to a school friend, she had given, 
for the benefit of a “Young Women’s Club,” a 
lecture upon “ The opportunities for service at 
present confronting young women.” Among her 
auditors, no one was more thoroughly en rapport 
with her optimistic philosophy than the pastor of a 
Congregational church in the village, and, as he 
was anxious to have the members of his congrega- 
tion hear her inspiring message, he called upon 
Theodora, and requested her to occupy his pulpit 
upon the following Sabbath evening. 

At first, Theodora declined, but when her objec- 
tions were overruled as being unworthy of one who 
had earnestly advised other young women to “ enter 
every open door, and improve each opportunity for 
service,” she gave her consent. She however as- 
sured her ministerial friend that by many of his 
congregation her theology would not be considered 
orthodox, since she so thoroughly believed in an 
omnipresent Spirit of Love that she could find no 


188 


AMORE. 


room for a Devil, or a god of Evil. In response 
she received the following reassuring words. 

“ Miss Dwight, I have chanced to hear and know 
much of your life, and you can go into my pulpit 
perfectly untrammelled, and say whatsoever the 
Spirit moves you to. If you feel that you have 
not perfectly formulated your theology, or phi- 
losophy, why not speak upon the temperance 
question?” 

In reply Theodora said : “ I fear that I have no 
new message to give upon that great question, 
and I would have conscientious scruples about 
calling people away from their homes, their good 
books and helpful conversations, unless I had some 
new thought to present. This temperance question, 
with all that it involves, is assuming such magni- 
tude and is so far reaching in its results, that I feel 
that I must have greater wisdom and more ex- 
perience before I attempt to unravel it. 

“ It seems to me an intricate network of sorrow 
and heartbreak, disease and mistake, and as I catch 
one or two threads guiding into the perplexing 
labyrinth, and trace them back, back to their start- 
ing point, they lead, just as do many threads of 
the Woman Suffrage reform, and Social Purity 


AMOBE. 


189 


work, to our theology, our materialism, and our 
depressing belief in total depravity, and our almost 
impious idolatry of the Devil. 

“ Of this I am convinced, that intemperance and 
the disfranchisement of woman are largely the result 
of our theological teaching. The cause is largely 
mental and spiritual, and will he remedied by 
the understanding of mental and spiritual laws 
and the worship of a God of Justice. 

“ There is a great fundamental truth, or rather a 
trinity of truths to be apprehended, it seems to me, 
before we know the truth which is to make us free. 
And these are : 

“ First, That God is Spirit of Love. 

“ Second, That we become in character like the 
God we worship. 

44 Third, That the mission of Jesus was to bring 
life and immortality to light and to reveal to human- 
ity its divine origin, its divine powers, its divine 
destiny. I could not go into your pulpit and not 
reveal a glimpse of the glorious vision vouchsafed 
to me, of the radiant realities of the good.” 

44 Again I say to you, my young friend, I had 
almost said young prophetess, for such you seem 
to me, 4 where the Spirit of God is, there is liberty.’ 


190 


AMO RE. 


4 Come, then, let us reason together and prove all 
things, holding fast to that which is good.’ ” 

With this understanding Theodora rested content 
until the morning of the Sabbath, at whose eventide 
she was to preach her first sermon. When she was 
notified that three other churches had abandoned 
their usual evening service and had decided to 
unite with the Congregationalists, and also w r hen 
her hostess, who was the teacher of a class of one 
hundred young men, informed her that they had 
promised to attend service that evening, an almost 
overwhelming fear took possession of her, fear that 
she might not be understood, and possibly lead 
some one yet farther away from God. 

Often have poets, artists and actors portrayed 
the anguish of a loving heart at loss of a single 
human love, but who has yet attempted to portray 
the agony of the great-souled patriot or philan- 
thropist madly in love with humanity when con- 
fronted with fear of possible mistake in his plans 
for its upliftment. 

Such anxious questioning, such haunting fears 
of possible mistake, seemed now to almost overwhelm 
Theodora, so that she sought the silence of her room, 
where, kneeling in the summer sunlight, her whole 


AMOJRE. 


191 


being seemed to merge into a prayer for guidance, 
and swiftly escaping from the bondage of the lips, 
her thoughts were formulated into words as she 
prayed : 

“O Thou divine Spirit, who art Love and 
Wisdom, our Heavenly Parent, forbid that aught 
but truth should be spoken by Thy child. If it is 
not true that there is no real evil and that every- 
thing will eventually unfold into love and beauty, 
then I ask Thee that Thou wilt strike me speech- 
less, in the presence of the great congregation, 
but do not allow me to voice one harmful thought. 
For the truth’s sake, give me a message that will 
cause thy children to love Thee and to seek the 
light. Thou knowest that I love Thee and that I 
earnestly seek for guidance.” 

She voiced no “amen,” but waited in silence 
for the divine benediction ; waited until she knew 
that she was enfolded in an atmosphere of love ; 
waited until she seemed to hear throbbing through 
the silence, “God is love,” “All things work to- 
gether for good.” After which, such a benediction 
of faith, love, and wisdom seemed to rest upon her, 
that she found herself strangely eager to deliver 
the message. 


192 


AMORE. 


In the evening, as she entered the church, she 
noticed a beautiful vase of roses at one side of the 
pulpit, at the other a cluster of golden-hearted 
lilies, while immediately in front of the altar, upon 
a small ebony table, had been placed an exquisite 
cross, constructed of delicate white pompons made 
from the thistle. 

Her simple white dress fell about her in such 
graceful folds, that it seemed like the robe of a 
young priestess. Her only ornament was a pure, 
white flower, which several young ladies decided 
must be a rare orchid, but which was only a graceful 
spray, plucked from a neglected stalk of pie-plant, 
discovered in an obscure corner of the garden, 
which, true to her usual method of dealing with 
neglected subjects or things, Theodora had de- 
lighted to bring into prominence. 

After some inspiring music, the reading of the 
Twenty-third psalm and an earnest prayer by the 
pastor, Theodora requested the audience to observe 
with her a moment of silence after which she voiced 
her message. 


AMORE. 


193 


CHAPTER XIII. 

Theodora’s sermon. 

“ Beloved, let us love one another : for love is of 
God ; and every one that loveth is born of God, and 
knoweth God. 

“ He that loveth not knoweth not God ; for God 
is love. 

“ There is no fear in love ; but perfect love casteth 
out fear : because fear hath torment. He that 
feareth is not made perfect in love. 

“ If a man say, I love God, and hateth his 
brother, he is a liar. 

“And this commandment have we from Him, 
That he who loveth God should love his brother 
also. 

“ To you, kind friends, who have turned aside 
from the comforts and sacred pleasures of your own 
homes, this beautiful Sabbath evening, in order to 
yield hospitable attention to any message given 
me to bring to you, I would first emphasize this 
thought. 


194 


A MORE. 


44 You are requested to accept tlie words or texts 
chosen for the foundation of the superstructure, or 
basis of our argument, not merely because they are 
found in our Bible, or in other Bibles and sacred 
books, since the Infinite Creator conferred rea- 
son upon the created, before they were in- 
spired to construct Bibles, else how could a con- 
clusion be reached as to the comparative value of the 
sacred books and Bibles of the world ? Again, by 
what authority or right could we urge a Moham- 
medan or Persian to turn from the Koran or Zend- 
Avesta to examine the Scriptures of the Old and 
New Testaments except by an appeal to his 
reason ? 

44 These significant texts have been chosen be- 
cause they represent conclusions arrived at, or 
truths apprehended by the most illuminated Spirits 
4 who, being made flesh, have dwelt amongst us.’ 

44 Philosophers, poets, scientists, prophets, and 
seers, Nature and revelation seem to unite in rec- 
ognition of a God of Love, while we are assured 
by responsible historians that never yet has the 
traveller found a people upon the earth without 
prayer to some beneficent Spirit. 

44 Races of men have been found without homes, 


AMORE. 


195 


without raiment, without arts or sciences, but 
never without prayer any more than without 
speech. 

“ Plutarch wrote, eighteen centuries ago : 4 If 
you go through all the world, you may find cities 
without walls, without letters, without rulers, 
without money, without theatres, but never with- 
out temples and gods, or without prayers, oaths 
and prophecies, and sacrifices used to obtain bless- 
ings and benefits, or to avert curses and calam- 
ities.’ 

“ One whom the world calls 4 infidel ’ says : 
4 Let us who believe that the religion of nature 
calls for the religion of reason, remember that the 
flow of prayer is just as natural as the flow of 
water.’ 

44 Another reminds us that 4 Even nature in an 
agony is no atheist ; the soul that knows not where 
to fly, flies to God, while the soul’s natural and 
appropriate language in the hour of deliverance is 
thanksgiving and praise ! ’ 

44 Can we, dear friends, behold the miraculous 
birth of a new day, or find ourselves enfolded by 
the mystery of a starry night and not be moved to 
echo the inspired and inspiring thought : 4 The 


196 


AMORE. 


heavens declare the glory of God ; and the firma- 
ment showeth his handiwork. Day unto day 
uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth 
knowledge. There is no speech nor language, 
where their voice is not heard.’ 

“ If we turn from the poet of Israel to the phi- 
losophers of Athens, to the greatest master and 
pupil, Socrates and Plato, produced by the art, 
wisdom, beauty and philosophy of Greece, we find 
that their conclusions harmonize with those of the 
true poets of all the ages. 

“ Xenophon, in his Memorabilia , has preserved 
for us a most remarkable conversation between 
Socrates and Aristodemus, in which Socrates shows 
that the revelations of God which are made in 
nature, in history, in consciousness, and by oracles, 
are made for all men and to all men, and con- 
cludes with these remarkable words : 4 As, there- 
fore, amongst men we make best trial of the af- 
fection and gratitude of our neighbor by showing 
him kindness, and make discovery of his wisdom 
by consulting him in our distress, do thou in like 
manner behave towards the gods, and if thou 
wouldst experience what their wisdom and their 
love is, render thyself deserving of some of those 


AMORE. 


197 


divine secrets which may not be penetrated by 
man, and are imparted to those alone who consult, 
who adore, and who obey the Deity. When shalt 
thou, my Aristodemus, understand there is a being 
whose eye passes through all nature , and whose ear 
is open to all sound , extended to all places, extending 
through all time, and whose bounty and care can 
Jcnotv no other bounds than those fixed by his own 
creation .’ 

“ Dr. Whedon, in his ‘ Christianity and Greek 
Philosophy,’ says : ‘ However conflicting the opin- 
ions of men concerning beautiful things, right 
actions and good sentiments, Plato was persuaded 
there are ideas of order and right and good which 
are universal, unchangeable and eternal. Untruth, 
injustice, and wrong may endure for even long 
periods of time, a day in His sight is as a thousand 
years, but they cannot always last. The just and 
the true are the only enduring things ; these are 
eternal.’ 

“ Plato had a sublime conviction that his mis- 
sion was to draw the Athenian mind away from 
the fleeting, the transitory and the uncertain, and 
lead up to the contemplation of an Eternal Truth, 
an Eternal Justice, an Eternal Beauty, all pro- 


198 


AMO BE. 


ceeding from and united in an Eternal Being, the 
Supremely Good. The knowledge of this Supreme 
Good, he regarded as the highest science. 

“ ‘Let us declare,’ says Plato , 4 with what motive 
the Creator hath formed nature and the universe. 
It was not and is not to he allowed for the Su- 
premely Good to do anything except what is most 
excellent, most fair, most beautiful.’ 

44 And this is to us but another phrasing of the 
inspiring statement, 4 Eye hath not seen, nor ear 
heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of 
man to conceive of the things which God hath 
prepared for those that love Him.’ 4 And all shall 
love him from the least unto the greatest.’ 

44 But once apprehend that we live and move 
and have our being in a God of Love, and Para- 
dise is regained, and Heaven is here and now. 

44 But we seem to hear the mental question 
of some hearer : 4 Is the testimony of these inspired 
philosophers and poets true ? Is life a good gift ? 
Can you calmly and steadily contemplate the 
sorrow and suffering of the world, and still declare 
that 4 God is good ’ ? 

44 Let us calmly make the survey and ascertain 
if we cannot return a glad, a triumphant and a 


A MO RE. 


199 


grateful Yes, basing our conclusions upon two 
truths perceived. 

“ First, we meet with the reassuring fact that 
the mere enjoyment, or experience of life in this 
world is so good a gift, that to-day, at this very 
hour, despite ignorance, poverty and disease, people 
love life, cling to life, and would make almost any 
sacrifice to secure the right to live through another 
century. 

“ Kings and emperors have exclaimed, ‘ All my 
possessions for a moment of time ! ’ 

“ So sweet is life, even here upon this planet, 
down amid the beginnings of things, that invalids 
racked with pain, the aged and deformed implore 
physicians to secure to them just a little longer 
lease of life. 

“ So wondrous is this strange gift of life, in its 
varied aspects, in its entrancing beauty of color in 
flower and shell, in wave and cloud, in gem and 
crystal, in bird’s note and insect’s hum, in subtlest 
odors, tempting fruits, in childhood’s joyous song 
and mother’s crooning lullaby, in its sacred loves 
and friendships, its opportunity for service and its 
revelation of immortality and God, that although 
all Bibles, which serve as telescopes to the eyes of 


200 


AMORE. 


faith, were destroyed, the divine whisperings heard 
in the soul’s vision hours, would cause us to exclaim 
4 Hallelujah to the Giver of Life ! ’ Even though 
this be, by comparison, the life of the grub in the 
mud world, far below the sphere of dancing waves 
and lilies with their hearts of gold. 

44 But when this short earth-life is viewed as the 
vestibule, opening into the marvellous temple of 
immortal life, we can but re-echo the angels’ song : 
4 Glory to God in the highest, on earth, peace, 
good will to men,’ and re-assure one another with 
the inspiring statement : 

44 4 Beloved, now are ye the sons of Gi)d, but it 
doth not yet appear what ye shall be.’ 

44 Oh, friends ! believe it ! In this glad, new time 
there are many who, through loving obedience, 
have been guided into inspiring and sacred experi- 
ences. They believe that not prosperity and 
pleasure and love and appreciation alone, but 4 all 
things work together for good.’ These children 
of God, with a new light in their eyes, a stronger, 
tenderer hand-clasp, and whose very presence 
sometimes proves a healing influence, say to one 
another, in tones whose gladness shall yet make 


AMORE. 


201 


the music of the world, 4 the tabernacle of God is 
with man.’ 

“ Turning from prophets, poets, and philosophers, 
to God’s wonderful Bible of Nature, see what a 
beautiful object-lesson some loving hearts and will- 
ing hands have prepared for us this evening in 
these exquisite roses and lilies and this suggestive 
white cross, constructed from the thistle. 

44 One, to whom had not been revealed the sug- 
gestive fact that even in Nature there is no such 
thing as a weed, passing through the Autumnal 
fields, would probably have spurned the thistle, 
as 4 the meanest weed that grows.’ But an- 
other, whose patient search for truth has been 
rewarded by a glimpse of the Universal Good- 
ness, passing that way, with that true wisdom 
W'hich is only born of love, ignored, for the moment, 
the lilies and roses, and sought out the white soul 
of the thistle, with which to decorate the cross 
itself. 

44 And so, beloved, wounded, tempted, home-sick 
hearts, if any such are here to-night, for this one 
hour yield yourselves to the blessed influence of 
Omnipotent Goodness, and 4 let perfect love cast 
out all fear,’ as you recognize that your soul, your 


202 


AMORE. 


immortal, real self, made in the image of The Good, 
is pure and true. 

“ You may have wandered far, and yet you love 
and honor whatsoever was purest, sweetest, noblest 
in your mother ; what was most just, most tender 
and compassionate in your father. You recognize 
the divinity of the angel in the sweet, little children. 
You deplore your own waywardness and wander- 
ings. At times, you so loathe the debasing physical 
habits or appetites which have controlled you, that 
perchance you have sought forgetfulness in intoxi- 
cating drinks, or have dreamed of suicide. Now, 
why do you thus love the good and loathe the bad f 
Because you , in your real , inner selves are good , else 
you would love the bad and dislike the good. Like 
every other home-sick prodigal, wandering in the far 
country of disobedience and sensuality , you long for 
your father' s house because you are your father's 
child . 

“ Perhaps you have thought you could not 
return because enchained by that most ghastly 
and paralyzing fear, which has darkened the world, 
namely, a belief in some power stronger in this 
world than God? 

“ This Devil is a liar from the beginning and 


AMORE. 


203 


the truth is not in him, and is not the greatest 
error of our age the idolatry of this same imagi- 
nary Devil ? 

44 Just here, dear friends, as I realize that some 
may be thinking that the great army of theologians 
have taught otherwise, I am tempted to give you 
a fact from personal experience. A few days 
since, while earnestly thinking upon this theme, 
the thought persistently recurred that surely simi- 
lar conclusions to these must have been reached 
by others, and therefore I earnestly asked the 
Spirit of Truth to guide me to some so-called 
orthodox statements on this subject. Almost im- 
mediately, and in a most remarkable manner, I 
was guided to a little book, which I had never be- 
fore seen or heard of ; and upon taking it into my 
hands, I opened at once to the following para- 
graphs quoted by the author, Rev. John Reid, 
from 4 Butler’s Sermons.’ The author also stating 
that his MSS. had been endorsed by Taylor Lewis, 
LL.D., and W. G. T. Shedd, D.D. 

44 4 The appetite for wealth, which keeps pace with 
the march of civilization, and which makes men 
willing to encounter any difficulty to satisfy it, is 
but the rough herald of a purer appetite which 


204 


AMORE. 


never can be satisfied with anything short of the 
Supreme Good. There are aspirations turned 
astray, that even in their distortion, attest their 
divine origin and purpose. There are warped, and 
crippled, and polluted hopes, that even from their 
dungeon of flesh, still cry for heaven. There are 
desires that, cursed with the frenzy of sin (or 
mistake) run mad through the thronged and 
heated highways of the world, yea, that are 
evolved in all the hideous forms of vice and 
intemperance and blood.’ 

44 4 Gambling, for instance, though it may seem 
to speak simply of amusement, or the prize, does 
more. It shows quite distinctly that here are 
beings uneasy, because the good for which they 
were made has not yet been found. The appetite 
for wealth, which keeps pace with the march of 
civilization, is but the rough herald of a purer 
appetite, which can never be satisfied with any- 
thing short of the Supreme Good.’ 

44 4 The reason why the soul is dissatisfied with 
merely finite objects is, because the image of the 
Infinite is stamped upon it. The mind is a god- 
like creation, and it cannot be at rest without 
God.’ 


AMORE. 


205 


44 1 The states of mind which are called by such 
names as melancholy, dejection, despondency, de- 
spair, point to the fact that the soul is unhinged 
and not right with God.’ 

44 4 But vice itself is not objectless ; this insanity 
is superinduced upon sound faculties ; these fires 
are the fires of conflagration, hut they do not less 
than others point to the skies.’ 

“ 4 And again, it almost seems as if the whole 
family of mankind had been striving to give us 
glimpses of a home that is divine. The Egyptians 
had the idea in life ; the Persians, light ; the 
Greeks, beauty ; the Romans, law ; the Jews, 
purity ; the Christians, love.’ Perhaps if we 
could see the whole development of the race com- 
pleted, we might behold a glorious picture of the 
ultimate home as the result, a heavenly home, 
with every child safely and eternally enfolded by 
the parental love, with no wanderer, no prodigal, 
no missing link. 

44 No child by crossing the ocean, or wandering 
to the uttermost parts of the earth, goes beyond 
the boundaries of a true mother’s love, and if that 
mother-spirit were omnipotent in love and wis- 
dom, would not some method be devised for event- 


206 


AMO RE. 


ually winning the beloved prodigal back to his 
home ? For if this wanderer persisted forever in 
baffling these attempts, would he not prove him- 
self to be greater in resistance than the mother 
heart in love ? 

44 Is it not equally true that if one spirit in the 
universe should not eventually yield to Omnipotent 
love and wisdom, then that spirit would be 
stronger than God, and the evil which could not 
be overcome with good, would thus prove itself 
God? 

“ But what of gigantic wrongs and errors, suf- 
fering and injustice, the great, baffling problem of 
evil ? 

44 4 Ask and ye shall receive.’ 4 Know the truth, 
and the truth shall make you free.’ For days and 
days light on this subject was earnestly sought, 
and on one never-to-be-forgotten evening there 
came to the questioning heart, this message : 

44 4 An Omnipotent Creator, planning for the hap- 
piness of the created, foresaw that only through 
the advance from ignorance to knowledge, could 
even an all-wise and all-powerful Spirit of Love 
secure and bestow, or even share the greatest pos- 
sible happiness ; such true happiness as results 


AMOEE. 


207 


from development, growth in friendship, in knowl- 
edge, in love ; spiritual progress. The man could 
not know the delights of childhood, or be en- 
riched by the memories of youth without having 
been born a babe.’ Hence, the so-called ‘ problem 
of evil ’ is solved only by the recognition that 
so-called evil is incident to the development from 
ignorance to wisdom, or to mere existence un- 
folding into rapture ; an atom developing into a 
world, a babe in the manger becoming the star 
of Bethlehem, to an expectant world. 

“ At the beginning of this discussion we consid- 
ered the observations of the most scholarly philos- 
opher of the world’s most intellectual people. In 
conclusion, permit a thought, or prophesy, from 
an African mother, enslaved in her youth, and 
who was unable to read or write ; a thought dic- 
tated by Sojourner Truth) after she was one hun- 
dred years old. 

We talk of a beginning, but there is no begin- 
ning but the beginning of a wrong. All else is 
from God, and is from everlasting to everlasting. 
All that has a beginning will have an ending. 
God is without end, and all that is good is without 
end. God is a great ocean of love, and we live 


208 


AMORE. 


and move in Him, as the fishes in the sea, filled 
with His love and spirit, and His throne is in the 
hearts of His people.’ 

“A Scientist received from a friend a rare speci- 
men of the Emperor Moth in the chrysalis. Im- 
patiently he waited for the emergence of the 
worm. At last the struggle commenced, and 
slowly the worm began to push its way through the 
small aperture. The Scientist, impatient of the 
delay, took a sharp knife and cut the filmy coat of 
skin which detained it, and the wingless worm 
crawled out. Regretfully he discovered his mis- 
take. Only by the process of struggling through 
the small opening could the substance of the body 
of the grub be forced into the wings, thereby trans- 
forming the worm into an angel insect. 

“ Thus in our struggle for truth, and in our 
attempts at helpful service for others, do we de- 
velop the wings by which we may soar away to the 
realms of the loving. 

“ Possibly some loving heart is still disturbed 
by fears that this philosophy does not harmonize 
with the religion of Christ. Let us listen to the 
great Teacher when a young man came to Him 
with that question of vital importance, ‘ Good 


AMORE. 


209 


Master, what must I do to inherit eternal 
life?’ 

“Listen to the answer of Jesus: ‘Why callest 
thou me good? There is none good but One, that 
is God ; ’ and again, 

44 4 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all 
thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself ; on these 
two commandments hang all the Law and the 
Prophets.’ 

44 It is not what persons believe about a devil, or 
about Jesus, or about God, but the degree of their 
love to God and humanity which is the vital 
fact. 

44 Greater than ecclesiastical 4 Council,’ 4 Confer- 
ence ’ or 4 Assembly,’ is the holy Church Uni- 
versal, where Love is the purest worship ; service 
the divinest sacrament. 

44 Love worketh no ill to his neighbor ; there- 
fore, 4 love is the fulfilling of the law .’ 

44 Two persons may unite with the same church, 
at the same hour, may assent to the same creed, at 
the same moment, sit side-by-side in the same pew, 
listen to the same sermons ; both call themselves 
good Methodists, Presbyterians, or Baptists, and 
yet, owing to early training, or varying degrees of 


210 


AMOBE. 


spiritual development, in their inner conception of 
Deity be as diverse in real beliefs as a Unitarian 
and a Catholic. 

“ Some insist that we, as finite beings, cannot 
comprehend infinity, and that it is impossible for 
us to understand how there could have been no 
beginning and how there can be no ending. 

w The converse is equally difficult. Even the 
most fearless imagination cannot portray a time 
of absolute nothingness, entire absence of space. 
Neither can the boldest imagination think of a 
time when there shall be absolutely no existence, 
no time, no space, no spirit. 

“ The imagination even cannot assail a truth 
so potent and impregnable that its negation is un- 
thinkable. 

“ Turning to the materialistic scientist watching 
for proof of annihilation, we witness his surprise 
as he discovers the indivisible, ultimate force, 
which he may not hope to destroy or augment, 
and discovers that ‘ all matter is capable of trans- 
formation, if not transfiguration, till it shines by 
the light of an indwelling spirit.’ 

“ Herschel says : ‘ All human discoveries seem 
to be made only for the purpose of confirming 


AM011E. 


211 


more strongly tlie truths that come from on high 
and are contained in the sacred writings.’ 

44 Bishop Warren says in his 4 Recreations in 
Astronomy ’ : 4 Science and religion are not two 
separate departments, they are not even two phases 
of the same truth. Science has a broader realm 
in the unseen than in the seen, in the sublime 
laws of spirit than in the laws of matter ; and re- 
ligion sheds its beautiful light over all stages of 
life, till, whether we eat or whether we drink or 
whatsoever we do, we may do all for the glory of 
God.’ 

44 Science and religion make common confession 
that the great object of life is to learn and to grow. 
But what shall we learn and in what direction try 
to grow ? 

44 For answer, let us turn again to that historic 
scene, when 4 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I 
perceive that thou art a prophet. 

44 4 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and 
ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men 
ought to worship.’ 

44 4 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the 
hour cometh when ye shall neither in this moun- 
tain nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. 


212 


AMORE. 


“ 4 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the 
true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit 
and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to 
worship Him/ 

“ God is spirit, and they that worship Him must 
worship Him in spirit and in truth. 

“ God is Love and Love is God.” 


AMO RE. 


213 




CHAPTER XIV. 

PHILIP'S MISSIONARY SERMON. 


“To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the 
world, that I should bear witness unto the truth.” 

Jesus. 

“Not by hard stress of lone philosophies, 

Nor scorn of joys, nor sad disparagement 
Of life and living things as shadows vain ; 

But — nearer road and new — by heart to see 
Heaven closest in this Earth we walk upon, 

God plainest in the brother whom we pass, 

Best solitudes ’mid busy multitudes, 

Passions overcome, when master-passion springs 
To serve and love and succor.” 

Arnold. 

Philip Ward has fought his crisis battle. He 
has met his theological Waterloo, and emerged 
from the conflict like the true hero, for he has 
wrested victory from defeat, and won for himself 
a lasting peace. 

It is a singularly peaceful battlefield in a beauti- 
fully appointed church, with all the sesthetic acces- 
sories of melodious music, dim, religious light, 


AMORK 


214 


beautiful flowers, an elegantly attired congrega- 
tion ; men adorned with diamonds, women attired 
in costliest silk and lace. 

The day is one of unusual interest to the young 
pastor, Philip Ward, as he is to preach his first 
missionary sermon. He has received from the 
“ American Board,” some surprising statistics, 
which have revealed to him the small amount per 
capita contributed by orthodox Christians to the 
work of rescuing their fellow-beings from an eter- 
nity of suffering. 

He has been so roused that he has not slept dur- 
ing the entire night. He feels confident that his 
people have been indifferent and apathetic solely be- 
cause of ignorance, and that the facts and the earn- 
estness of his message will arouse them as they 
have never been before, and that his plain state- 
ments will “ provoke to love and good works.” 

The day is beautiful, the congregation un- 
usually large, and never has a more earnest or 
powerful sermon been voiced in the dear old 
church. The members are reminded that if each 
woman will sacrifice the value of two pairs of 
gloves per year, and if the men will contribute the 
cost of one cigar per day, the successful mission- 


AMORE. 


215 


ary now laboring in the Sandwich Islands need not 
be recalled. In a voice tremulous with emotion 
the young pastor said, “ Oh, my beloved people ! 
if you will this morning but subscribe an amount 
equal to what you pay annually for the high-priced 
concert tickets, we can send another missionary to 
China, or to the greatly wronged Indians of our 
own land.” 

The service ended. The pastor waited, with 
eager interest, to learn the amount contributed or 
subscribed. It did not average twenty-five cents 
for each member of the congregation. Philip 
Ward hastily left the church. As he passed along, 
he heard men talking about the rise in real estate, 
and women smilingly discussing a reception of the 
previous day. He walked more rapidly now, and 
upon arriving home he hastened to his mother’s 
room (she having been detained at home) where, 
with the abandon of a child, he threw himself upon 
a couch, beside her, and exclaimed, 

“ Oh, my mother, you gave me life, I would that 
now you would teach me how to die, for I cannot 
bear to live amid such cruel mockeries and dis- 
appointments, where truth and light seem to be so 
unattainable and religion such a farce. I know 


216 


AMORE. 


that I never preached more earnestly than I did to- 
day. I told my people that unless they doubled 
their contributions young Harris must be recalled, 
and they gave a paltry fifty dollars. I almost hate 
them for their apathy, and yet they have subscribed 
generously for the mere physical relief of the 
starving people in Russia. I cannot understand it. 
It seems so un-Christian ; unless— unless, as you 
have often charitably hinted to me, it is because 
the people do not really believe the terrible doc- 
trine of eternal punishment which they profess. 
No, they do not. They cannot. 

“A veil seems to be taken from my eyes, and I see 
and know that if they do really believe it, then 
they are the most wicked and cruelly selfish people 
in the world. 

“Now I know that I myself have never in my 
inmost soul really believed that unnatural doctrine. 
If I had, nothing in the world would have deterred 
me from devoting my life to the work of telling 
my brethren in foreign lands how to flee from the 
wrath to come. 

“ I understand now, that if a person really be- 
lieves that his fellow-beings can be saved from 
eternal torment by merely having the Bible sent to 


AMORE. 


217 


them, and selfishly declines to make even a slight 
sacrifice to save them, then is such an one a crimi- 
nal indeed, sinning against light and knowledge. 

“ At last I see, as Channing did, that God’s 
children do not really believe this terrible dogma, 
because ‘the light that lighteth every man that 
cometh into the world,’ reveals to them that it is 
not true. It seems to me cruel and impious to 
preach such a doctrine. How have you, with your 
more Christ-like philosophy of mercy and love, 
been so patient with me, mother ? ” 

Like a baptism of love, Philip felt upon his 
forehead his mother’s happy tears, as Mrs. Ward 
explained, “ My son, my well beloved boy, so en- 
tirely, so consciously, have I trusted in the Infinite 
Love and Wisdom which enfolds you, that I have 
felt assured that the Truth which you were so earn- 
estly seeking would surely set you free from the 
theological errors into which you were apparently 
psychologized by your strong-willed room-mate.” 

“ But how do you, how can you, account for the 
apathy of really good people who do profess to 
believe that even innocent little children will be 
forever punished ? ” 

“ It is a momentous truth that 4 we grow in 


218 


AMOBE. 


character like the God we worship * ; and the people 
who school themselves to love a Creator who could 
forever punish any of His children, do so harden 
their hearts that they fail to feel the divine vibra- 
tions of the voice which said , 4 Neither do I condemn 
thee, go and sin no more.’ ” 

After this there was perfect silence, broken at 
last by Philip’s questioning. 

44 Mother, do you realize all that this morning’s 
experience means to me. I must give up my 
church ; abandon my life-work. What a cruel mis- 
take I have made ! Think how I have sacrificed 
these best years of my life ! Had I followed my 
natural love for Scientific investigation, I might 
have enriched the world by this time through 
some great discovery.” 

44 Rest assured that there has been no mistake, 
my son. God is not dead. You have voiced much 
more truth than error. Y ou have preached a 4 God of 
Love ’ and the divinity of the Christ-like life. When 
error is preached it does not strike deep, as you 
discovered by the effect of -this morning’s sermon. 
I have known since the moment that you were first 
given into my arms that you were a child of the 
4 Golden Age,’ and that you had a beautiful work 


AMOUE. 


219 


to do, but you cannot do it alone. When you 
truly enter upon it, it will be under the inspiration 
and intuitional guidance of a great-souled woman. 

“ You need rest and refreshment now. After 
dinner swing your hammock out under the old 
elm. Later we will have some music. After 
which I would like to read to you one of the sermons 
of the new time — a sermon which welled from 
the depths of a true woman’s loving heart.” 

A few hours later, Delight Friske announced to 
Earle O’Neal, “I am neither a prophet nor the 
daughter of one, but I will prophecy that it will 
not be a year before we lose our pastor. I called 
at Mrs. Ward’s this afternoon and she was reading 
to Philip that beautiful sermon of Theodora’s, and 
I tell you when such a mother as Mrs. Ward reads 
to a sympathetic son such truths as that sermon 
contains, if he is as honest and truth-loving as I 
know Mr. Ward is, something is apt to happen to 
his theology.” 

Delight also continued : “ By the way, Earle, 
what a philosopher the third part of our 4 triangle ’ 
is getting to be for a fact ? Our delightful little 
Club may become famous yet. 

“ I have been giving Theodora some pretty hard 


220 


AMOBE. 


knots to untie lately, but, as usual, she straight- 
ened them out, easily. Whenever I wish to calm 
down and take a serious view of things in general, 
and life in particular, I just take a pen and at- 
tempt to write her a sensible letter. 

“ I had been saving one or two questions for 
4 Dorian,’ and so I wrote to her the very next day 
after she went away on that last little visit, and I 
would like to read you a page of her answer. 

“ The first part of her letter is as full of fun, 
and wit and sunshine as 4 Dorian ’ is herself, but 
she breaks into philosophizing just as easily as 
Deacon Strong starts a hymn. I had asked her how, 
if the same kind of a lamp lighted everybody that 
came into the world, she accounted for the fact 
that people with apparently equally good eyes had 
such different views of God as, for example, Unita- 
rians and Methodists, the one worshipping or seeing 
God as a Spirit, the other as the man, Christ 
Jesus. This is what she writes in answer : 

“ 4 Every thing has been so beautifully typified for 
us, that it appears that both classes you mention 
might have the light of Truth, and yet see differ- 
ent pictures. For instance, to our own brothers or 
sisters we may seem to be very simple, practical, 


AMORE. 


221 


prosy persons, just the materialistic Mary or Eliza- 
beth whom they see eating, drinking and sleeping, 
while to some poet or philosopher, whose great 
loving soul recognizes our spiritual natures, we may 
be creatures of almost infinite possibilities. So to 
some minds, God becomes personal in Jesus, 
while to others he is the omnipresent love and 
life of the universe. Some love nature, because 
in and through it they see the soul of the Master 
architect and artist ; they love humanity because 
everywhere they discover the image of the good.’ 

“ Earle, Theodora must either have a pulpit of her 
own or marry a preacher. It would be just like 
her to do both.” 


222 


AMORE. 


CHAPTER XV. 

“THE ANCHOEA6 E.” 

“ The moon was pallid but not faint ; 

And beautiful as some fair saint, 

Serenely moving on her way 
In hours of trial and dismay. 

As if she heard the voice of God — 

Unharmed with naked feet she trod 
Upon the hot and burning stars, 

As on the glowing coals and bars, 

That were to prove her strength and try 
Her holiness and purity.” 

Longfellow. 

One of the most highly prized of Mrs. Ward’s 
possessions was a summer cottage, surrounded by 
a few acres of land, bordering upon one of the 
beautiful lakes with which the picturesque State 
of Wisconsin is gemmed. As we have previously 
stated, Mesdames Dwight and Ward had been 
intimate school friends, and the friendship had 
never been allowed to lapse, if one may be allowed 
to use so materialistic a word in regard to so 
spiritual a fact as friendship. 

A marriage between Philip and Theodora had 


AMORE. 


223 


been one of Mrs. Ward’s fondest anticipations, and 
she could have allowed herself to become very un- 
happy because of their apparent estrangement. In 
fact she would have been a few years since before 
she had attained to her present degree of faith in 
the omnipotence of the good. 

When tempted to regret or repine, she promptly 
comforted herself with the thought that both 
Theodora and Philip had always sincerely asked 
for light and guidance, and consequently, Infinite 
Love could no more permit them to make a serious 
mistake, by withholding desired guidance, than 
could she herself have failed to give loving counsel 
and care, had it been sought of her. 

She had persistently ignored the apparently 
waning friendship of Philip and Theodora during 
the year which had elapsed since the announce- 
ment of Earle O’Neal’s betrothal, and had claimed 
the accustomed visit from Mrs. Dwight and Theo- 
dora during Philip’s absence ; he having been 
given a European trip by his congregation. 

The summer evening of which I write, finds 
Mrs. Dwight and Theodora at “ The Anchorage,” 
the summer home of Mrs. Ward. 

And such a night! The spring had been so 


224 


AMOliE. 


late in coming that it seemed that the two seasons 
had welded into one ; the warmth of the J une sun 
giving a lovelier, deeper shade to the spring blos- 
soms, and more exquisite tints to leaf, bird-wing, 
cloud and wave. 

The air was laden with the perfume of the wild- 
cherry and apple blossoms. The stars seemed far 
removed, and yet the air was so clear that looking 
up into the blue depths, all distance seemed to 
fade, and care and fear to be so far away that one 
could never be disturbed by them again. 

Music, wafted across the waters from a distant 
camp, seemed fraught with celestial melody. And 
but to breathe such perfumed air, explore such starry 
depths, hear such harmonious sounds, made life 
worth living, even to the young woman whose 
spirit was already attuned to the minor key of an 
out-lived beautiful hope. 

Theodora Dwight belonged to the new order of 
womanhood, whose members do not faint, despair 
or die, although for a time misunderstood and un- 
loved, so long as there remains to them the right to 
love, and opportunity for service. 

As Theodora sat alone on the small, vine- 
wreathed pier, watching the silvery sheen of the 


AM011E. 


225 


tremulous water and the rose-pink clouds, half 
veiling the harvest moon (the rose-pink moonlight 
which some true artists have dared to paint, and 
which the unobservant have made haste to criti- 
cize as unnatural), her anchored spirit so clearly 
heard a divine undertone prophetic of the good, 
that a prayer of faith and gratitude escaped from 
her trusting heart. The prayer seemed naturally 
to key itself to melody, and out into the starry 
silence she breathed a triumphant song ; the first 
she had sung since the hour when she was told of 
what she supposed was Philip Ward’s true love 
for Earle O’Neal. 

She sang as only one can sing whose entire 
nature is attuned to the pure, the beautiful and 
the true, and who responds to the rhythmic harmony 
of the universe, 

“Hark,” said Mrs. Ward, “is that Theodora 
singing ? I have not heard her sweet voice before 
in months. How she does sing to-night. One 
would think her whole soul was vibrant with 
melody.” As the song ended, she added, “ Per- 
haps it would be, if she knew a certain secret 
that I have been striving to keep for the past 
three or four hours.” 


15 


220 


AMOliE. 


“ An agitating secret up in this quiet retreat. 
What is it, pray ? ” questioned Mrs. Dwight. 

“ Philip is coming to-night.” 

“Philip coming? You do not mean it. I 
must tell Theodora. She will be greatly dis- 
turbed to have him find her here, and, I know, 
will desire to return home at once.” 

“ No, my good friend. Please let events take 
their own course. Besides I think he is announcing 
himself this very moment, as I sent his boat to 
the station for him an hour since, and I think I 
hear the sound of oars near the small pier where 
Theodora is sitting.” 

Theodora’s music was born of her philosophic 
faith, and was such an improvisation as is possible 
only to those who have caught the key note of the 
universal anthem, or have perceived the hallowed 
vision which reveals the love that casteth out 
fear. With her whole being calmed by the sooth- 
ing beauty of the night she had wedded to music 
(each note full of courage and faith) those in- 
spiring words of John Burrows : 

Serene I fold my hands and wait, 

Nor care for wind, or tide, or sea ; 

I rave no more ’gainst time or fate, 

For lo ! my own shall come to me. 


AMORE. 


227 


I stay my haste, I make delays, 

For what avails this eager pace ? 

I stand amid the eternal ways, 

And what is mine shall know my face. 

Asleep, awake, by night or day, 

The friends I seek are seeking me, 

No wind can drive my bark astray, 

Nor change the tide of destiny. 

What matter if I stand alone ? 

I wait with joy the coming years ; 

My heart shall reap where it has sown, 

And garner up its fruit of tears. 

The waters know their own and draw 
The brook that springs in yonder hight, 

So flows the good with equal law, 

Unto the soul of pure delight. 

The stars come nightly to the sky, 

The tidal wave unto the sea — 

Nor time, nor space, nor deep, nor high 
Can keep my own away from me. 

“ Theodora, I have come. Come back to echo 
your words ; 4 Nor time, nor space, nor deep, nor 
high, could keep your own away from thee.’ 

“ Forgive my blindness, fear and wandering, 
dear heart ; step into this boat and let us com- 
mence life’s voyage together. There may be some 
storms this way, but it was shipwreck for me 
the other. Do you hesitate ? Are you afraid to 
commence the journey with me for the Captain ? ” 


228 


AMORK 


“ Yes,” she said, “ if you so promptly elect your- 
self Captain, and expect me to always wait for or- 
ders. Since there are only two of us, and doubtless 
some breakers ahead, would it not be wiser for us 
to sit side by side and each take an oar ? If we 
face each other, you know, we will always be 
looking in different directions.” 

“ Theodora, to me, this is too supreme a moment 
to indulge in even merry cavilings.” 

“ Philip, because through all my being I realize 
that this moment of love is the key to a life of 
bondage or to one of freedom, do I desire to 
thoroughly understand to what place I am sum- 
moned. I love you too truly to come as a selfish 
queen. I recognize my own individual responsi- 
bility too thoroughly to be willing to come as a sub- 
ject, hence I must come as an equal, or not come 
at all.” 

“ Come, then, to the level of my soul and heart 
and brain. Be the comrade of my youth, the part- 
ner of my manhood, the good-angel of my home, 
my associate in my work, the queen of my heart’s 
kingdom, which, by all that I am or hope to be, I 
will make royal for your sake. Know no master 
but love, acknowledge no law but justice, obey no 


AM ORE. 


229 


commands but those of truth. Be free as a bird to 
wing your way to any height ; yet make your nest 
ever in my heart. Theodora, are you satisfied ? ” 
“ Satisfied ? So satisfied that, true to my wo- 
man’s instinct, knowing that I am free to grasp the 
oar, I prefer to drift awhile under your guidance.” 

As the little boat with its immortal cargo floated 
oyer the star-illumined lake, its inmates seemed 
to be poising between two worlds, scarcely conscious 
of either. 

“ Philip, what caused you to change your 
thought ? What sent you home to me ? ” 

u The truest sermon that love ever inspired or 
loving lips ever voiced. A wonderful little ser- 
mon, not very long, not very orthodox, or rather 
not any kind of a 4 dox,’ not even so much of a para- 
dox as were some sermons I have preached, I fear ; 
but a sermon which revealed to me that no matter 
how much divided we were in our definitions, the 
writer of that sermon and I worshipped the same 
God, hence, of right, belonged to the same church, 
and could unite in the same work.” 


230 


AMORE. 


CHAPTER XVI. 

A TELEPATHIC MESSAGE 
AFFIRM THE GOOD. 

“ As the Mohammedan thriee daily calls to Allah, as the 
devout Catholic never fails to repeat the prayers of his rosary 
at stated times, so he that believes in universal, omnipresent 
good, should never fail in making the affirmation, ‘ All is Good.’ 

“ It is a proven law that affirming the good and holding to 
the thought with steadfastness and intensity, verily brings the 
good. The spoken words, the uttered thought, has the power 
of making the principle of good manifest in our lives. 

“ ‘ All is Good.’ No more magic sentence was ever uttered. 
The fervid utterance of these words brings relief to the suffering, 
peace to the sorrowing and right-living to the erring.” 

Alice B. Stockham M. D. 

A week has elasped since Philip Ward’s return. 
Again it is the evening hour, and together he and 
Theodora have sought the vine-covered pier, where 
a fine view of the sunset can he enjoyed. 

After a prolonged silence, Philip gently turned 
Theodora’s partially averted face towards his own, 
and, looking earnestly into the soulful eyes, said : 

“Your thoughts seem to be playing truant, lit- 


AMORE. 


231 


tie comrade. May I ask to know the cause of 
that far-away expression ? v 

“ I was thinking about Hester. My own great 
happiness causes me to realize, more keenly, what 
a different world it must be to those who, while 
yet in their loneliness, do not know that surely, 
some time, some where, their own will come to 
them. 

“ I was also questioning if I had used the law of 
the spoken word, as I understand it, sufficiently to 
bring to Hester all that she might realize. I was 
just sending her a mental telegram of love and 
hope, declaring that here, in this world, everything 
would be righted.” 

An expression of actual pain came swiftly into 
Philip’s face, as he replied : 

“ Theodora, the manner in which you and your 
good mother sometimes talk about 4 affirming the 
law of good and declaring against evil ’ fairly 
makes me shudder. Forgive me, dear, but I know 
that your heart’s desire for me is that I shall ever 
be true to the truth as I apprehend it, and your 
statements at times do seem to me almost impious, 
as implying that any human being could assist God 
in His providential care of His creatures. You 


232 


AMOBE. 


declare that you believe 4 everything works together 
for good. * Then why not just let it work, dear ? ” 

Without pausing for a reply, Philip, in his eager 
interest, continued : 

44 Really, Theodora, while agreeing with the basic 
principle of your philosophy that 4 God is Spirit of 
Love,’ yet it does seem to me that you and your 
mother and other members of your coterie, are 
actually in danger of running into absurdities, 
which weaken your entire theory. In sober truth 
I have heard you say some things that would 
have caused you to be hung for a witch a century 
or two ago.” 

44 Possibly. And if expressed at a much later 
date, might have caused me to be sent to an asylum 
for the insane. And may not that be one reason 
why heroes and poets have so feared to describe 
their vision hours? The wings of imaginations 
have been clipped. Seers and prophets have with- 
held their most inspiring experiences, and even 
Jesus of Nazareth discovered that while he had 
many things to say, they could not bear them then. 
But in all this the divine principle of good has been 
at work, just as it works in the green peach, the bit- 
ter apple, and the sour grape. The perfecting prin- 


AMORE. 


233 


ciple which will result in the delicious fruit is per- 
sistently at work, although not having attained 
to the degree of manifestation evinced in the 
ripened fruit. Just so the good forever works, and 
those souls sent into the sacred silence for that 
purpose have there discovered the true law by 
which to overcome evil with good. 

“ Remember, dear, that I have only lived in the 
light of this truth a very short time, and that it 
will require an eternity in which to acquire all 
wisdom. But already I have discovered one ex- 
cellent reason why it is blessed for reformers and 
prophets to be persecuted somewhat, at least to a 
certain degree of unpopularity. If discoverers and 
reformers were as popular when first announcing 
their discoveries and methods as they often become 
a century or two, after death, they would never be 
left alone long enough, by their crowds of admirers, 
to think their great thoughts, or formulate their 
philosophies. 

“Just imagine what a fatiguing time poor 
Columbus and Isabella would have, sitting for por- 
traits, having plaster casts taken, and writing their 
autographs, if they should return to-day. And 
likewise consider George Washington’s position 


234 


AMORE. 


on the 22d of February, when he would be obliged 
to accept Mark Twain’s advice and resolve himself 
into an entire regiment. Then think of it, if you 
can, calmly, had not my liberal ideas so thoroughly 
frightened that titled young Englishman, I might 
at this very time be enjoying a presentation at 
Court.” 

The reader can imagine how that saucy speech 
was punished, after which Philip said, “ You must 
excuse my obtuseness, but I do not see why, in 
case of sickness, if you trust this omnipotent 
goodness, you ever need to employ a healer ? ” 

“ That question disturbed me at one time. For 
several days I had been haunted by this thought, 
when suddenly I overcame all anxiety by recogni- 
tion of the promise. 4 The Spirit of Truth shall 
guide you into all Truth.’ Within an hour there- 
after, this statement, made by W. J. Colville, was 
placed in my hands : 

“ 4 He is called a philanthropist who makes two 
blades of grass to grow instead of one. Then 
think of the marvellous goodness of an omnipotent 
Creator who, instead of being content to use his 
God-like powers of good alone , prefers to share 
them with his children . Instead of making one 


AMORE. 


235 


person happy, the person who is healed, He makes 
two, the one who is healed and the one who 
enjoys the equal if not greater blessing of aid- 
ing or being the instrument of healing to an 
other.’ 

“ Do we not instinctly recognize this as a truth ? 
How often do we hear quoted that clear note from 
our own Lowell, 

‘ Not what we give, but what we share.’ ” 

44 Theodora, you are a constant surprise to me. 
Where do you get your information, your apt 
answers to such knotty questions ? ” 

44 Such as I have, have come to me in harmony 
with the law which Emerson has stated so beauti- 
fully in his 4 Oyer-Soul.’ The beauty of its 
promise so thrilled me the first time I read it, that 
I copied it in illuminated text as an ornament for 
my room. 4 O, believe, as thou livest, that every 
sound that is spoken over the round world, which 
thou oughtest to hear, will vibrate in thine ear ! 
Every proverb, every book, every by-word that 
belongs to thee for aid or comfort, shall surely 
come home through open or winding passages. 
Every friend whom not thy fantastic will, but the 


23 G 


AMOIiE. 


great and tender heart in thee craveth, shall lock 
thee in his embrace.’ 

44 Sometime, when we know and understand 
each other more perfectly, I will tell you of some 
of the most sacred experiences of my inner life. 

44 Believing as I do, recognizing that possibly 
the illuminating sunlight of love now enfolding 
me, may have revealed some truths which Hester 
does not know, possibly has not yet looked within to 
see, or listened to hear, while yet in the shadow of 
what seems to her a cruel wrong, I longed to 
transmit some of the light to her. So while sitting 
with you this quiet evening hour, when it seemed as 
though one might almost touch the stars, suddenly 
space seemed to dissolve ; I realized there was no 
separation in spirit, and so expressed my thought 
to Hester.” 

44 Expressed it how ? Please explain to me the 
process.” 

44 I merely whispered to the ear of her spirit a 
message which it is difficult for me to formulate 
in words, but it was to this effect : 

44 My sister, let us realize that if we could see 
clearly, we would know that ever and always you 
have been enfolded by Infinite Love ; that in 


AMORE. 


237 


God’s world nothing but good is prepared for His 
children. Courage ! With the faith which Jesus 
taught us was true, believing 4 the things desired 
are granted before we ask for them,’ I declare 
unto you that even as joy and blessedness have 
come to me, they shall come to you, and that the 
time has come for you to return and take up your 
work.” 

Philip was silent a moment and then said, 
“ That is really a beautiful faith, and yet it 
is surprising to me that you can believe that 
Hester Baird in Switzerland could hear your 
thought. You removed some of my doubts con- 
cerning mental healing when you cured my foot, 
but I am still a great skeptic as regards absent 
treatments or thought transference.” 

“ And yet, Philip dear, what would you, having 
once listened to a telephonic communication or 
having received a telegram, reply to some scientific 
skeptic, who, never having witnessed the same 
marvels, should insist that all theories of electric 
currents and sound-waves were absurd ? 

“ I might hint to you of messages received by 
means of spiritual vibrations, but we will not 
argue, dear. As evidence however of my confi- 


238 


AM ORE. 


dence in this law, I will make this proposition. I 
will not write to Hester, but in less than four 
weeks note what we shall hear from her. 

“We are the possessors of marvellous powers, 
which in our materialistic haste and our race for 
intellectual pre-eminence, we have neglected to 
cultivate.” 

Just then a filmy cloud, which had gathered 
about the horizon, melted into the blue, revealing 
a star of singular brilliancy. The beauty of the 
starlight, the radiant possibilities of truth and 
the joy of love, rendered speech unnecessary, and 
these two young hearts, emerging from the long 
night of error and the disturbing dream of evil, 
begin to realize that when the kingdom of heaven 
dawns within, there are glintings of Paradise 
without. 

* * * * * 

About three weeks after this conversation, 
Theodora placed in Philip’s hand the following 
letter : 

“ Berne, Switzerland. 

“ My dearest Friend — 

“ At last, after four dark years, the shadow has 
lifted and I write to tell you that I am coming 


AMORE. 


239 


home. The circumstances that led me to the 
decision were so strange that I hasten to tell you 
about them. Three weeks ago, I was sitting alone 
in the starlight. The day had been so warm, that 
little Donald had gone to sleep in a hammock, and 
as I sat beside him reviewing my past life, such a 
sense of wrong and injustice swept over me, that 
again my soul cried out, as it did on that morning 
when you, like a rescuing angel, came to me. 

44 It seemed that, notwithstanding my beautiful 
boy was sleeping so near me, I could not resist the 
temptation to rush to the lake and end all the 
agony, when my child suddenly began sobbing in his 
sleep. I caught at the hammock ropes, and kneel- 
ing beside him, called, 4 O Theodora, Theodora, 
come to me now, help me now.’ 

“ Did you hear that call, or was it my imagina- 
tion, that caused me to think that you responded ? 
If so, I thank God for imagination, for almost in- 
stantly it seemed that you were with me. I could 
almost feel your presence, and you seemed to say, 
4 Hester, believe me, life is beautiful. You can- 
not longer shut yourself away from the enfolding 
love of the Creator. Come out into the sunshine 
and make the world brighter and sunnier for others. 


240 


AMORJE. 


Surely the good is coming to you as it has to 
me.’ 

“ The cloud amid whose shadows I have lived 
since that cruel day seemed suddenly transformed 
into a beautiful rainbow. I arose from my knees, 
feeling that while the scar would remain the wound 
was forever healed, and that, cost what it might, I 
would come home and find some little niche in 
which I could work for and educate my boy, and 
also endeavor to help any of my sister women who 
had need of me. 

“ I am coming, having decided to accept your 
generous invitation to return whenever the spirit 
moved me. Coming back, with the help of the 
All-Father, to life and work and hope. 

“ Your Loving, 

“ Hester.” 

As Philip Ward slowly replaced this letter in 
its envelope, he said : “ Theodora, if this fact be 
true, if faithful, loving hearts can thus quietly 
transmute their strength into fainting and dis- 
couraged souls, then indeed is the weapon discov- 
ered wherewith we may hope to regenerate the 
world. And such a regeneration or transfiguration 


AMORE. 


241 


could be wrought as Jesus prophesied would occur 
when he declared that 4 The kingdom of God cometh 
not with observation.’ 

44 Just here I am reminded — how frequently you 
refer to the * sacred silence ’ and also how often 
you quote the command 4 Be still and know that I 
am God ’ in connection with these strange experi- 
ences which I hope to know more about in the 
future. Have you had any special instruction or 
revelation in regard to the subject ? ” 

44 Yes, dear ; and it is a strange coincidence that 
your question relates so particularly to a message 
received through 4 the voice of the spirit,’ a por- 
tion of which I transcribed this very morning. It 
is as follows : 

44 4 So used are your ears to hear the sound of 
drums that you know not of the silver trumpets of 
Silence. That exercise of going on, up, into 
silence should be practised with diligence, patience 
and loving willingness. Having been led by 
knowledge, you have entered a calmer sea, where 
intense feeling comes not to ruffle thy sails. Only 
the surface of things allow of tumult ; the depths 
of wisdom contain great calms. 

44 4 Silence is fruitful with growth ; consciousness 
16 


242 


AMORE. 


is not always knowledge on the surface. Away, 
in the spaces of the material universe planets 
are born. The firmament is filled with things 
which hang in the silence. 

44 4 The depths contain great wonders. Coral is 
formed in the silence, there color is incorporated 
and flashed into and upon the shell, such as may 
never have been done where Tumult sends forth 
her brazen voice. 

44 4 Silence paints the greatest pictures. Silence 
speaks the strongest and most harmonious lan- 
guage. 

44 4 Silence is creative. Silence is the building 
force of everything. Tumult is but disintegration. 
The clanging tongues of men, the thundering 
sounds of their productions, reverberate and gather 
power for readjustment in the silence. 

44 4 In the silence when thou hast stilled thy soul 
like the calm surface of a lake, then may the 
spirit come forth with its sweetest imagery and 
portray itself, and reflect its power and beauty. 
Then thou mayest perceive it and contemplate it 
as a God. 

44 4 Only through silence mayest thou enter into 
the woods and there crushing out the exterior self, 


AMORE. 


243 


hear the real song of the bird, see the deep mean- 
ing of beauty in the flower, leaf, and twig. 

44 4 The language of spirit is silence.’ ” 

After Theodora had ceased reading, both Phiiip 
and she instinctively arose and walked towards 
the house without speaking. In a moment, how- 
ever, interruption came in the person of Delight 
Friske, — that irrepressible young woman having 
arrived at “ The Anchorage ” the previous day — 
coming up, as she said, just to present her con- 
gratulations. She now exclaimed, 

44 Here come our philosophical, theological 
lovers, 4 philos ’ pertaining to Philip, 4 theos ’ to 
Theodora. If I wasn’t celebrating a ministerial 
engagement, I would wager a pound of candy that 
Philip is endeavoring to convince Dorian of the 
4 fall of man ’ this minute. 

44 Perhaps that doctrine is true, but since the 
world seems to be growing better all the time, I 
agree with what ‘Mother Wallace ’ says, 4 if man 
ever fell at all, he fell up.’ ” 

Merging her soliloquy into a question, Delight 
said, 44 Mr. Ward, I had a new thought to-day — 
first one of the summer, and it was this, How do 
we know that the Tree of Life, of which Adam and 


244 


AMORE. 


Eve were forbidden to eat, was not literally the 
tree of the life of animals, of birds, etc. ? If all 
thought so, it would be such an economical thing 
for young housekeepers. 

“ But I came out to announce to you that din- 
ner is waiting, and since I have become a vege- 
tarian that odor of ham and eggs is peculiarly ap- 
petizing. And that mere suggestion of bacon or 
Hamlet alone reminds me that I have been doing 
a good deal of philosophical soliloquizing lately, and 
I have about decided to adopt two hobbies and 
drive them tandem. Instead of worrying and 
arguing in favor of the equal distribution of land, 
as I used to do, until one bright morning I sud- 
denly concluded that since the Creator had made 
some of the land hilly, some swampy, some wooded 
and some prairie, we never could distribute it 
equally, I have decided that the best thing to be 
done is to educate every child so that it will know 
the value of land when it sees it and prefer an 
acre of grass and flowers and trees and stars and 
sunshine and sky to a whole city full of brick and 
mortar. 

“ When any nation once determines to do the 
fair thing by every child (be as kind to them as 


AMORE. 


245 


it is to Morgan ponies, or Jersey calves), the mere 
building of the schoolhouses, printing of books, man- 
ufacture of desks, chairs, shoes and clothes would 
keep everybody so busy and trade so free that it 
would not need any protection. All the unoccu- 
pied women would be needed to teach the children, 
while all the unoccupied men could take the 
places gladly vacated by women. 

“ That is my first hobby. I think I will not tell 
you about the other until after dinner. Only hint 
that the great poet laureate caught my idea when 
he wrote ‘ Two heads in council.’ 

“ Why not ? Why not have a man and woman 
president under our representative government as 
well as a king and queen, an emperor and em- 
press over in those ‘Heathen Egyptian’ coun- 
tries ? 

“ Speaking of the poet laureate reminds me what 
a cannibal Laura must have been. One can hardly 
blame her, however. I am so hungry this moment 
that I could almost eat a lamb, and there is the 
second bell.” 


216 


AMORE. 


CHAPTER XVII. 

AFTER THE STORM. 


“ Yast is the mercy of God, and when a man doeth aright, 
Glad is the right-hand angel, and setteth it quick on the roll ; 
Ten times he setteth it down in letters of heavenly light, 

For one good deed ten deeds, and a hundred for ten on the scroll. 

“ But when one doeth amiss, the right-hand angel doth lay 
His palm on the left-hand angel and whispers, * Forbear thy pen. 
Peradventure in seven hours the man may repent him and pray ; 
At the end of the seventh hour, if it must be, witness it then.’ ” 

Pearls of the Faith. 

What high ideals nature ever presents to her 
artist children : a body of water, a group of moss- 
etched trees, a distant sail, a patch of cloud-flecked 
sky, a tangle of shadows and sunbeams! The 
succession of pictures, groupings and effects inci- 
dent to one summer day would supply artist- 
studies for a lifetime. 

What an inexplicable, and yet significantly sym- 
bolic substance water is ! To a blind man a com- 
prehension of the characteristics or possibilities 


AMORE. 


247 


of water would be as difficult as for man intel- 
lectually and without spiritual insight to apprehend 
God. 

Imagine yourself, if you please, standing upon 
the shores of a perfectly clear lake', endeavoring 
to describe its properties and possibilities to one 
who had never enjoyed nor been educated by the 
great gift of sight. 

Think of the apparently conflicting statements 
you would be obliged to make. No single drop is 
an ocean, a river or a lake, and yet all oceans, 
rivers and lakes are nothing but an aggregation of 
drops. 

It will not bear upon its surface even a tiny 
stone and yet upon it whole armies float, and 
each liquid wavelet responds to the capricious 
winds. 

It is transparent and you see in it living crea- 
tures entirely unlike any that live upon the earth. 
Creatures that cannot live separated from this 
element. You can see below this wonder world a 
mud world, with its strange children half asleep 
in their cradles of shell and of pearl. 

In a tiny drop of this element you can see a 
starry world reflected, and when, floating upon the 


248 


AMORE. 


surface of a lake, be conscious of three worlds: 
the watery world, the heavens above and the earth 
beneath. 

Then to make your description accurate, you 
would be obliged to add: These are the charac- 
teristics of the water at one time ; at another time 
you will find the hitherto liquid mass a solid 
bridge of crystal gems. Again, if the depth of 
water be not great, upon some torrid day the dry 
land will appear, each responsive drop being ab- 
sorbed into the warm heart of the sun. 

Methinks, through your sense of failure in de- 
scription, you will recognize the almost miraculous 
properties of water, and understand that, next to 
the sun, it is Earth’s most beautiful symbol of 
God. 

One of the prettiest pictures reflected by any 
lake or stream, during the day of which I write, 
was that of Hester Baird and her little son as they 
drifted aimlessly, in a dainty little boat which 
floated upon the water like a rosy cloud. The 
boat was pink, and Hester, to please Donald’s 
almost passionate love of color, had allowed him 
to throw about her shoulders a rose-tinted shawl. 

The boy, attired in a rich-brown suit, and a torn, 


AMOBE. 


249 


but picturesque hat, from underneath which long 
curls escaped, sat proudly at his post as helmsman 
of the little craft. Hester had dropped the oars 
and seemed lost in reverie from which she was 
suddenly aroused by the anxious tones of Donald’s 
voice as he said, 

“ How still is everything except the birds, and 
they fly around as if they were so afraid. Is 
anything the matter ? Hark ! Is that thunder ? 
What makes me feel so frightened ? Mamma, dear, 
let us go home quick.” 

Hester recognized, although not nearly so sen- 
sitive as Donald to the electrical conditions of the 
atmosphere, that an ominous change had occurred. 
In a moment she distinctly heard the onward rush 
of the wind which she knew would lash the lake 
into dangerous waves. 

As she grasped the oars with a steady hand, all 
her thought was for the safety of her child, while 
she almost voiced the agonizing question : 44 My 
God ! is he to be taken from me as punishment 
for my rebellion when he came? Never! If he 
is saved I will live for him, but if he dies then we 
will go together.” 

Her first impulse was to snatch him to her side, 


250 


AMOHE. 


but she knew that for his sake she must not for a 
moment relax her grasp of the oars. So she said 
calmly : “ Lie down in the bottom of the boat, 
Donald, and please keep hold of the anchor rope. 
Do not be afraid, darling. This is a high wind but 
God is here ; and we will either reach home safely, 
or just sink into Heaven ; so you see we are as 
safe as though we were swinging in the hammock 
at home.” 

Mother love was a strong incentive, and, with 
remarkable skill and power, Hester managed the 
oars so that for a time the little boat right gal- 
lantly rode the waves, which were now rolling 
higher than she had ever before known them to in 
this usually placid little lake. 

“ Courage, darling ! ” said the almost exhausted 
mother, “ we will soon reach the bay where the 
water will not be so rough.” 

The thought of the near haven being an incentive, 
with almost superhuman strength she guided the 
boat and kept abreast of the waves, as they rounded 
the most dangerous point. It now seemed as though 
a few brave strokes of the oars would send them 
into the little harbor, when suddenly the wind 
changed and a great wave broke over the little boat 


AMOBE. 


251 


fairly blinding Hester with the spray. In an instant 
there was a grinding crash upon the rocks and 
Hester was thrown upon a mossy, sandy beach, 
while at the same moment the curly head of the 
beautiful boy disappeared beneath the water. 

“ Merciful Heaven ! Take me too ! Donald, my 
child, wait ; mamma will go with you,” gasped Hes- 
ter. But as she arose to follow her boy, a strong 
hand seized her, and a man with such an appealing 
look as she had never before seen in a human face, 
said, “ Hester, for your child’s sake, wait ; and as 
God liveth I will save your boy.” 

Quieted by the very force of the stranger’s will, 
Hester Baird stood motionless. She saw the strong 
man plunge into the storm-lashed waters, saw him 
disappear, and then in another moment return, and 
lay her boy at her feet. 

The child was safe and unhurt, and now that the 
toil and danger was over, the mother sank back 
trembling and faint upon the sand, as she en- 
deavored to voice her gratitude to the stranger who 
made haste to say : 

“ Hester Baird, God knows that I am the one to 
be thankful,” and the strong man fell sobbing at 
rhe feet. “ Oh, listen to me, for it seems that my 


252 


AM ORE. 


heart is breaking with joy at the goodness of God. 

“ Yes, I know now that He is good, for He has 
allowed me to save your child. Oh, Hester ! Dare 
I say it in your presence ? He has allowed me to 
give you back your — our child. 

64 Listen, I have followed you, and loved you, 
and in many ways protected you, during all these 
cruel years, and now for the child’s dear sake, listen 
to my confession : Crazed, maddened by drink, I 
committed a deed against which, when restored to 
reason, my whole soul has so rebelled, and my 
higher nature protested in such agony of remorse, 
that I would long since have died or taken my own 
life had I not sworn to my mother, to my higher 
self and to God that I would live in order to make 
some restitution. Had I not believed that some 
time, some where, I could make some reparation, 
life would have been unendurable. Oh, believe 
me, the self-loathing and abhorrence, and the soul’s 
recoil from that mad deed, sent me into such recog- 
nition of the beauty of purity, that from that mo- 
ment of drunken frenzy until this hour, I have been 
able to live in such away that I dare come into your 
presence long enough to beg for your forgiveness, 
and to whisper, just whisper the hope that, for 


AMOBK 


253 


the boy’s sweet sake, some time, you can at least 
pardon ” 

The wind-swept flowers, the swaying forests, the 
surging waters, were a most fitting symbol oi the 
storm of conflicting emotions that raged in Hester’s 
thoughts. 

In one person she had met the man who had 
wrecked her youth and the rescuer of her child. 
She believed that he was now a pure man, and 
yet it seemed almost unnatural that she could allow 
him to remain for a moment in her presence. 

There seemed nothing in the world to do but to 
pray for guidance, for truly when the beleaguered 
soul knows not where else to go, it goes to God. 

***** 

Suddenly, almost as swiftly as it had come, the 
storm seemed to subside. The battalions of swiftly 
marshalling clouds wheeled and deployed as if 
yielding the angry contest to more peaceful ar- 
biters. A beautiful rainbow spanned the heavens. 
The re-assured birds were sounding jubilant notes. 
Donald placed one little brown hand in his mother’s, 
while with the other he grasped that of his brave 
rescuer, as he said, “ Mamma, dear, this gentleman 


254 


A MO RE. 


and I are very wet and cold; if you are strong* 
enough now, please let us go home.” 

“ Yes — Hester — when you are stronger — some- 
time — some Christ-like time — let us go home — to- 
gether.” 

“ You may show the — your kind rescuer, the way, 
Donald,” was Hester’s only response. 

As they cross the now sun-illumined hills, and 
then pass from our sight, we are confident that into 
whatsoever is just and right, this little child will 
lead them. And some strange association of ideas 
reproduces for us a sacred scene, amid the Judean 
Hills, when a divine voice startled a hitherto un- 
forgiving world with the statement, 

“ Neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no 
more.” 

Reflecting upon that suggestive scene, does not 
each Christ-like soul glow with prophecies of a time 
when neither mobs nor executioners, dungeons nor 
prisons will be known, reformers and philanthro- 
pists having entered the kingdom of the heaven- 
lier way, through “ becoming as little children.” 


AMORE. 


255 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

THEODORA AND EARLE. 


“ I have gone the whole round of creation : I saw and I spoke ; 
I, a work of God’s hand for that purpose, received in my brain 
And pronounced on the rest of his hand-work — returned him 
again 

His creation’s approval or censure : I spoke as I saw, 

I report, as a man may of God’s work — All's love , yet all's law. 

Robert Browning. 

Theodora, and Earle might have served as studies 
for companion pictures to be entitled “ Past ” and 
“ Future,” as they sat together on a rustic seat 
near the edge of the lake, watching with loving eyes 
two boats in which the children of the latter were 
rowing near the tree-fringed shore. It was one of 
those inspiring summer mornings, when the world 
seems new and yet when one is almost inclined to 
listen for the sound of growing harvests ; when even, 
the barking of dogs and the lowing of distant cattle 
seem to blend in orchestral melody. 


250 


AMORE, 


‘“Twas one of the charmed days 
When the genius of God doth flow, 

The wind may alter twenty ways, 

A tempest cannot blow : 

It may blow North, it still is warm ; 

Or South, it still is clear, 

Or East, it smells like a clover farm, 

Or West — no thunder fear.’ ” 

“ What a glorious world this is,” exclaimed Theo- 
dora. “ Such a morning as this, I feel as though I 
would like to live for a thousand years.” 

Her voice vibrated with power, while her face 
reflected such courage, hope and faith that it 
seemed that she could not grow old. 

“ Oh, Theodora,” replied Earle, in a thin, rasping 
voice that matched the anxious, care-worn face, “ I 
was just this moment thinking that if I had created 
the world I would not have made it such an anxious 
place for mothers. 

“ Do you know that when I review the past few 
years of my life, it seems to me that I have never 
drawn one long, deep, restful breath since my first 
child was born. Each evening I feel with a deep 
sigh of relief, one more day is lived through without 
a tragedy. Much as I love my children, I am too 
anxious about them to really enjoy them. For in- 
stance, this beautiful summer morning, even in this 


AMOHE. 


257 


delightful spot, brings no rest to me. I have been 
in an agony of fear lest one of the children should 
fall out of the boat. 

“ From the moment my children are born, anx- 
iety begins with me. The first thing when they 
are awake, is hiccoughs, while if they are inclined 
to sleep too much, I cannot resist the haunting 
fear that they may be dead. I have frequently 
awakened my children to see if they were really 
alive. 

“ Then comes that trying time when they try to 
put everything they can find into their mouths. 
What fearful imaginings I have had about their 
choking to death. When they are a little older, — 
well, girls are bad enough — but what shall I 
say about boys ? What do boys enjoy that is not 
dangerous ? It is a marvel to me that there are 
any men in the world. I wonder they are not all 
killed while they are boys. How do they ever 
escape cherry-trees, skating, circus performances, 
stilts, hunting, rowing, sailing, base-ball and 
Fourths of July? As I said, I am always 
thankful when another day is over. Then come 
the nights, during which you have more time 

in which to worry about their future.” 

17 


258 


AMOBE. 


“Earle, dear, how you must sympathize with 
Samantha Allen. You remember she says: ‘ Truly, 
if anybody is going to set up in the worry business, 
nights is the very best time for it, in the hull 
twenty-four hours. Middlin’-sized troubles swell 
out so in the dark ; tribulations that ain’t by 
daylight big enough to see with a microscope, will 
look bigger’n a barn.’ 

“You remember Margaret Fuller wrote about 
instantly becoming a . care-taker herself as soon as 
her child was born, and being impiously anxious 
about the money with which to buy his books and 
primers.” 

“ Theodora, I did not think you would ridicule 
so serious a subject as this. I must, however, say 
that I have never known such a happy mother as 
you are. You play and read and walk with your 
little Margaret more than I have ever done with 
any of my children, but you never seem to worry. 
What is your secret ? ” 

“ Earle, my dear friend, if I have any secret it 
is this : I actually believe in a God of Love. And 
when, one evening, my children were lisping their 
little earnest prayers, and asking their ‘ Heavenly 
Father and Mother,’ for guidance and protection, I 


AMORE. 


259 


realized that they could no more wander away or 
escape from the loving care of their Creator than 
they could escape from my love. 

“ I do believe that they are immortal here until 
their life work is done, and if they are needed 
elsewhere, and Infinite Wisdom and Love should 
remove them from my sight for a time, I trust 
strength would be given me to bear it. 

“ Suppose some great artist should come to you 
and say, 4 Your son has a most remarkable genius. 
If you will let him go to Europe with me for a 
few years, I promise you that he will return in 
perfect health and with rare powers.’ And suppose 
you were certain that this promise would be ful- 
filled, could you not, for the sake of your child, 
consent to the separation ? ” 

44 I hope I would not he so selfish as to refuse.” 

44 W ell, dear, it seems to me when we fully com- 
prehend that we are souls, not bodies, that as in- 
dividual spirits we are assured of immortality, that 
our children when ushered into the higher life are 
eternally safe, then death loses its most dreadful 
aspect. 

“ Excuse me if in this connection I introduce a 
little of the philosophy which I endeavor not to 


2G0 


AMORE. 


obtrude in our conversation ordinarily, since it does 
not seem to appeal to you ; but I cannot without 
stating my basis of faith explain why I do so enjoy 
my children, and consequently am able to make 
them more happy than formerly. 

44 Last summer our little Margaret was visiting 
her Aunt Maria, who is peculiarly devoted to her. 
As a result of home-sickness, the child evinced a 
very feverish condition. Maria was exceedingly 
frightened, called a council of two old-school 
physicians (the dear heart being as unprogressive 
medically as she is theologically) who gave Margaret 
very strong medicines. This, together with Maria’s 
conversations with her about death, and her anxious 
questioning as to whether her 4 soul was saved ’ 
almost caused the little spirit through fright to 
escape from the body. When I arrived, I was as- 
sured that the dear child could only live a very few 
moments. She is our only one and has been the 
light of our home, and for a moment, strength, 
hope and faith seemed deserting me. I could only 
rally sufficiently to declare 4 there is no evil, 
there is nothing to fear, God is omnipotent, 
there is no death, in spirit we can never be 
separated. If Infinite Love has a more beautiful 


AMORE. 


261 


work for her to do elsewhere, strength will be given 
me to hear the separation, and live my life, as I 
did before this angel was sent to me.’ 

“ Fora moment it seemed to me I could not bear 
it. I seemed to be suffocating, almost dying, when, 
clear as a bell, there was sounded in my inmost 
consciousness those words from Whittier : 

‘ Know well, my soul, God’s hand controls 
Whate’er thou fearest. 

Round Him the calmest music rolls 
Whate’er thou hearest.’ 

“ Suddenly, as my whole soul seemed to yield in 
a loving, 4 Thy will be done,’ quick as an electric 
flash, I saw my child, in a vision, perfectly well. 
That moment I apprehended more completely than 
ever before, that spirit cannot be sick, that the real 
child, the spirit of my child, was as well as though 
I saw her with the rosy cheeks of perfect health. 
With all the power of a calm but loving will I told 
her these truths mentally, and in thirty minutes 
the astounded physicians admitted that her pulse 
and temperature were normal. I believe that this 
world will never be the heaven which it might be 
until fathers and mothers attain the perfect love 
which caste th out fear.” 


262 


AMOBE. 


“ Well, for the sake of argument,” said Earle, 
“ we will admit that your thought reached the child 
and accomplished the result ; is it fair or just that 
you have been permitted to attain to such high faith 
and to be able thus to cure your children, or to keep 
them from being ill, — as I must admit seems to 
needs be the fact, when you are with them, — while 
I must grow weak and nervous and suffer almost 
torture twenty times a day ? 

“ Come, Theodora, this is no time for false 
modesty. I appeal to you as one soul may to 
another. What makes the great difference in our 
lives ? If heredity, environment and education 
have made it possible for you to attain to this high 
spiritual power, why have I been denied similar 
conditions ? ” 

“ May not one reason be that I seem to have been 
born with a desire to obey the law — ‘ Prove all 
things, hold fast that which is good,’ — while you 
have been more content to accept a few things ? 
That is a great and benign law, I believe, which 
announces, ‘According to your faith be it unto 
you,’ and you know my father was a confirmed 
optimist. 

“ So persistent is this law of good that when 


AMORE. 


263 


persons will not, through love of the truth, risk a 
little possible unpopularity to study these spiritual 
laws that are being demonstrated, often nervous- 
ness and anxiety and consequent ill-health prove 
the kindly spurs inciting to helpful investigation/’ 

“ What are you two girls (let us always be girls 
to each other) talking so earnestly about?” inter- 
rupted Delight. 

“We have just been philosophizing a little. And 
since Theodora is either too modest or cannot quite 
solve my conundrum herself, I will put it to you, 
Delight. How do you account for the fact that 
our lives, Theodora’s and my own, have been so 
different ? Born in the same town, having attended 
the same schools, with very much the same class of 
friends ; both anxious to do some good, Theodora 
seems ever to have travelled a flowery path, while 
every step of my journey seems to have been 
among the thorns.” 

“ Oh, my, don’t ask me such a conundrum as that. 
I beg of you, Earle, because if I should happen to 
guess it, you would be so provoked with me that 
it would spoil this beautiful reunion that Mrs. 
Ward has so kindly planned for us.” 

“ No, Delight, I am deeply in earnest, as much 


264 


AMORE. 


so as I have ever been in my life, and while we 
will excuse Theodora (since Margaret is calling 
her) you give me a true answer to my question. 
Of course I am not blind. I know that Theodora 
has a far more unselfish and more symmetrical 
character than I have, but why does she ? Why do 
not equally kind circumstances develop me ? ” 

“ Well, isn’t this a strange world? It’s about 
the funniest place I ever remember to have visited. 
Do you know, I kept Theodora awake until after 
midnight last night, with that very question in 
regard to myself. I did not make it personal as 
between us, but asked the question : 

“ ‘ Is it just or fair that one person should come 
into the world with no violent temper to over- 
come, no innate jealousy to gnaw the heart out of 
every pleasure, with a natural disposition which 
makes everybody love him or her, while another, 
even from babyhood, seems to antagonize and 
repel ? ’ And what do you suppose she said ? It 
almost took my breath. What a wise body she is. 

“ She assured me that while she could not 
probably reveal to me experiences which had con- 
vinced her of the truth of her belief, she did not 
believe that birth into this life was the beginning 


AMORE . 


265 


of the spirit’s existence, neither did she believe 
one short term of life here always ended the spirit’s 
earthly experience. And she thought each and 
all would be given an equal chance, that some- 
where, somehow, a perfectly loving and just Creator 
would secure to every child opportunity, devel- 
opment, usefulness. That every taste would be 
gratified, every power developed, every aspiration 
realized. She added that she believed every truth 
had been symbolized to us in nature. She pointed 
to two apple-trees, one a mere shrub as yet, the 
other weighted with fruit, and said, 

“ 4 Delight, think how many times that tree has 
appeared to die and then enjoyed the beautiful 
resurrection of flowers and leaves before it was 
able to bear such fruit.’ 

“ Well, I grant you that this theory somehow 
seems to be in harmony with one’s idea of a per- 
fectly just and impartial Heavenly Parent, and yet 
the question still arises, why does Theodora think 
these things, why has she been led so beautifully and 
peacefully into the light while my life has been a 
perfect succession of falls and jerks and struggles ? ” 

“ That is a pretty hard question, Earle, and yet, 
as you have asked me to speak plainly, and as I am 


266 


AMOIiE. 


ill a regular George Washington mood, I will. 
Notwithstanding you all think me such a mad-cap, 
I do a good deal of thinking, nights and Sundays. 
I have discovered this truth as it seems to me, 
that the real prayer of Theodora’s inmost soul 
has been to be guided into the light, and she has 
unfolded as easily as a great, fragrant rose with 
just enough briers for self-protection. You, Earle, 
have always been determined — as you were about 
your marriage — to go your own way. You have 
desired to do good, but in a popular and not very 
self-sacrificing manner. You will admit, dear, that 
you have made some mistakes when, as you admitted 
to me, you married for money. May it not be, as 
Theodora would say, that what you call cruel 
struggles and 4 jerks ’ have really been angels in 
disguise, sent to bring you back to the better path ? 

“You made the basic prayer of your life a 
demand for money and social position, and your 
demand has been answered. Theodora may be 
merely an older spirit than you, made wiser 
through more varied experiences. If that is true, 
what a verdant youth I. must be. I hardly have 
one eye open yet. But there is so much to see with 
this one that I am afraid two would set me crazy. 


AMORE. 


267 


“ I heard some of the friends laughing at 
Theodora’s vagaries (as they called them) in 
regard to different spheres of development, and so 
on. But just think of it, Earle, we can really see 
three worlds right now, this very minute. Why 
didn’t I ever think of it before ? just absence of 
mind I suppose. First there are the fish. Then 
below their world is the mud world of the clams 
and worms. Then up here the birds with the law 
of wings, etc. Suppose that humming-bird, lux- 
uriating in the heart of that lily-bell, should 
attempt to describe this world of sunshine and 
fragrance and bird-music to a mole, or a clam, 
wouldn’t he have a discouraging task ? 

“ Thank fortune, there is the bell for luncheon. 
I was never in quite such deep water before. I 
intend to enjoy being just an onion until I blossom 
into a hyacinth or be contented as a fish in water 
or a turtle out of water till I evolute into an 
eagle.” 


268 


AMORE. 


CHAPTER XIX. 

THE CHURCH OF THE FUTURE. 

“ The supreme work to which we need to address ourselves 
in this world is to learn to love. The world is not a play- 
ground. It is a school-room. Life is not a holiday, but an 
education. And the one eternal lesson for us all is how better 
we can love. What makes a man a good artist, a good sculptor, 
a good musician ? Practice. What makes a man a good 
man. Practice.” — Drummond. 

Or, as Edwin Arnold felicitously phrases for us : 

“ But earnest will to stand 
On Love’s side, eager heart to see the Good 
And serve the Good and hail the Light and help 
The spreading of the Light. 

“Ah ! the dream 

Full fair, could it hut last in waking hours ! 

Could men but hear the angels sing anew 
And learn to sing it, making ‘ Peace on Earth.’ 

“If we should strive to say in mortal speech 
Where He was man, and why much more than man, 

The earthly words would mar the heavenly truth ; 

Love tells it best in her simplicity 
And Worship in his deepest silences. 

“ First-born of Heaven, first soul of human souls 
That touched the top of manhood — and from height 
Of God-like pure humanity — reached God.” 

Light of the World. 


AMORE. 


269 


To those individuals who had not apprehended 
the truth that “the soul is not an organ, but 
animates all the organs;” those who were seek- 
ing happiness through bodily ease and comfort, 
luxurious appointments and surroundings, in 
what they had to eat and wear, the summer of 
1891 brought many discomforts. This, one readily 
perceived in the frequent- accounts of “ crowded 
ball-rooms,” “ dusty roads,” “ heat,” “ draughts,” 
“flies,” and “mosquitoes,” and yet, to a little 
group of philosophers who had wisely assembled 
on the shaded banks of a beautiful lake for plain 
living and high thinking, their retreat seemed a 
suggestion, yea, more, almost a segment of 
Paradise. 

The central figures of this Academic group were 
Philip and Theodora, whose beautiful philosophy 
so irradiated their lives as to render them especially 
lovable, attractive and influential. A small organ- 
ization of “ Truth Seekers ” was the result of 
almost daily untrammelled and earnest discussions. 
And now, as the little group was about to sepa- 
rate, Theodora had been requested to formulate 
for them her ideas or thoughts concerning the 
Church of the Future. 


270 


AMO HE. 


It is their last afternoon together, and, at their 
accustomed trysting-place, these lovers of Truth 
assembled. The grassy sward was flecked and em- 
broidered with the scarlet and gold of oak and 
maple leaves, while loving hands wreathed the 
ropes and fringed the edges of the hammock in 
which Theodora was seated, with glowing sprays 
of golden-rod. 

Theodora, as was her custom, was dressed in 
white, and in her happy wifehood and rapidly 
unfolding powers, seemed the genius of the per- 
fect September day. She had lovingly summoned 
Philip to her side, and as he, also wearing a suit 
of some soft, white, woollen stuff, took his seat 
beside her, they seemed the typical young priest 
and priestess of the New Age. The symbolism of 
the picture was rendered more complete by the lion- 
skin rug which a careful mother had placed upon 
the grass, and upon this rug a beautiful young 
child, with one arm thrown around a pet lamb, was 
sleeping. 

Theodora’s face seemed illumined with prophetic 
light as, in tones vibrant with faith and trust, she 
voiced the following statements and suggestions : 

“ Nearly half a century ago (just about the time 


AM ORE. 


271 


that the wave of light that resulted in the remark- 
able discoveries and inventions and the upward 
trend of thought that is rapidly revealing the 
parenthood of God and the brotherhood of man 
swept over our world), a young school-teacher 
was endeavoring to instruct a little girl in the 
rudiments of harmony. The child seated at the 
piano repeatedly sounded a single note. The 
recurrence of the same sound becoming monoto- 
nous, consequently irksome, the teacher seated him- 
self at the instrument and, explaining to the child 
that she had merely been making a noise, struck 
a rich, full chord. As the little listener noted the 
effects of the blended notes she recognized the vast 
difference between sound and harmony. 

“ At the same moment a new thought electrified 
the teacher, as he apprehended that in order to 
secure harmony we must combine differences. 

44 To secure harmony we must combine differ- 
ences resounded in his spiritually attuned ear, 
until thought gave birth to speech, and he ex- 
claimed, 4 ignorance of this fact is the cause of the 
discord in our world to-day, particularly in our 
theological world.’ 

44 The Creator has attuned our souls to vibrate 


272 


AMORE. 


to different notes, and there has been a determined 
effort to make all respond to the same sound. In 
order to secure the harmony of spirit which 
‘maketh alive ’ we must bravely listen for and 
recognize the whole diapason of truth. 

“ With the recognition of this truth there came 
the determination to sometime found a church 
which should thus secure harmony by combining 
differences. 

“ Nearly a quarter of a century passed when a 
brave, sweet-spirited, truth-loving, orthodox clergy- 
man one Sabbath morning announced to his con- 
gregation that after an unprejudiced and careful 
study of the original manuscripts which constitute 
our Bible he found himself obliged to abandon 
some of the doctrines of the Church. Hence, with 
many loving memories with sincere gratitude 
for the past, and with renewed hopes for the future, 
he would abdicate his pulpit, although still loyal 
to the central truths of love to God and man. 

“ The opportunity for which our erst-time teacher 
had so patiently waited had arrived. He called a 
meeting of the citizens, and an organization of 
Truth Seekers was effected, based upon a simple 
statement of desire upon the part of the member- 


A MORE. 


273 


ship to 4 know the truth ’ and a promise to abstain 
from all intolerant criticism. 

“ Of the unexpected growth, philanthropic en- 
deavor, helpfulness and harmony of this organiza- 
tion it is not our present purpose to speak, but to 
emphasize the need of a similar society in every 
community. 

“ Every philanthropist, spiritualist, theosophist, 
Christian and truth-seeker recognizes the import- 
ance of spiritual education and unfoldment of 
knowledge and growth for each individual. All 
thoughtful persons must deplore the fact that, in 
every community there are so many persons, no- 
tably young fathers and mothers, who are absent- 
ing themselves from all spiritual instruction, 
through conscientious objections to much of the 
theological teaching and interpretation, or because 
of inability to meet the expenses incident to 
church membership. 

“ We recognize that each sect and denomination 
has evolved much of truth and that there is need 
in every community of a spiritual service where 
men, women and children and 4 the stranger that 
is within the gates ’ may worship God after the 
18 


AMORE. 


274 

dictates of their own consciences, with none to 
molest or make them afraid. 

“ A service is needed which would prove more 
than a library for the scholar, a laboratory for the 
scientist, an observatory for the astronomer, an 
altar for the Christian, a temple for the Buddhist, 
a mosque for the Mohammedan, a synagogue for 
the Jew, a shrine for the Catholic, a spiritual home 
for all who are wandering in search of truth, a 
most blessed place for little children, a place where 
all who ask for guidance will be led into the 
radiant light 4 that lighteth every man who cometh 
into the world. ’ 

44 The members of such an organization would 
yield unprejudiced and hospitable audience to the 
statements and experiences of the orthodox 
Christian, the questioning Scientist, the thought- 
ful Poet, the investigating Spiritualist, the de- 
spondent Agnostic, the Trance Medium, the de- 
voted Catholic, the devout Jew, the Christian 
Scientist, the Faith Healer, and the inspired Proph- 
etess, since the principle of life must underlie 
every problem, and no factor can be discarded, if 
we would attain the correct solution. 

44 While scientists differ in regard to the 4 great, 


AMO liE. 


275 


first cause ’ and the 4 ultimate force,’ the definition 
given to the world by J esus most strongly appeals 
to me, and I would lovingly summon you all to 
convince me of my error if I am mistaken in be- 
lieving that Love is the creative, sustaining prin- 
ciple of Life, Love the weapon with which to win 
the glorious, bloodless battle of the future.” 

As Theodora concluded, Delight earnestly said, 
“ If that is true, what serious mistakes many re- 
formers have made. Their favorite weapon often 
seems to have been hate rather than love. Some 
temperance lecturers to which I have been com- 
pelled to listen, seem to have so rung the changes 
upon hate, — hate of saloon-keepers — hate of mas- 
culine tyrants — -hate of drunkards and hate of 
legislators that I have caught the contagion and 
left the lecture-room hating everything and every- 
body, except myself, of course and my dinner. 
Think, though, how bravely many of these re- 
formers have worked. Is all that labor and often- 
times real self-sacrifice thrown away ? ” 

“ No, indeed, my friend. Each method of work 
has been useful and helpful upon its plane, while 
many whose inner prayer has been ‘ guide me 


276 


AMOBE. 


into the truth,’ seem to be discovering at last 
that 4 love is the fulfilling of the law.’ ” 

44 Oh, yes, I see ; I see,” said Delight , 44 but please 
excuse me, good friends, for seeing it in my way. 
Truly a prophet has come among you. It is not the 
enfranchisement of woman alone, nor the Bellamy 
idea, nor Socialism or Orthodoxy, nor Home or 
Foreign Missions, nor Prohibition, nor peace- 
ful arbitration, nor compulsory education, nor 
Spiritualism, nor Christian science, nor electri- 
city, nor accumulation of energy, nor free kin- 
dergartens (and please observe that it almost 
chokes me to include this, as next to Woman 
Suffrage, it is my pet hobby) ; nor the Chau- 
tauqua idea, nor University extension, nor com- 
munication with Mars, nor dress reform, nor 
the abolition of secret societies, but just the univer- 
sal recognition of the law of love which is to usher 
in the millennium. 

44 And now the picture begins to unfold, and 
I am reminded of the little old woman in the story 
that all children delight in, especially when they 
come to the optimistic part of it (ahem ! optimistic, 
is the proper word, isn’t it, Theodora ?) when 4 the 
fire begins to burn the stick, the stick begins to 


AMORE. 


277 


beat the dog, the dog begins to bite the pig, the pig 
begins to get over the stile, and the little old woman 
can get home that night.’ Just so, at last, the 
Church begins to love the world, the world begins 
to love the Church, the suffragists love the tem- 
perance clans, the scientists recognize woman’s 
intuition, etc., etc. 

44 Now please recognize that I have made the 
speech of my life, and you will observe that it was 
entirely impromptu. If the audience will please 
sing 4 America,’ while Brother Ward takes up the 
collection, the stance will end, and the congrega- 
tion consider itself dismissed, since there goes the 
dinner bell and savory hints of the feast of un- 
reason float out upon the air.” 

As usual, Delight retired amid merry laughter, 
and then there was a moment of thoughtful silence, 
when Philip Ward, in profound recognition of the 
fact that the harmonious, joyous faith of the future 
must result from a union of the scientific research 
of man and the vision hours of woman, stepped to 
Theodora and said in soulful tones, 

“ Sweet wife of mine ; standing here to-day in 
the sacred light of Love’s shining, I would welcome 
you as never before to this 4 labor of love ; ’ wel- 


278 


AMOBE. 


come you as the whole world must welcome woman, 
as the spiritual guide of the race ; welcome you as 
did the angels of God welcome the Virgin Mary 
when she gave to the world the divine child with 
his jubilant message of — Love.” 
























































































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